A Second Chance
by GoatStew
Summary: Ranma starts to see some of the less expected results of changing his world. Sorry abut the wait.
1. The End

A Second Chance

'This feels weird,' was the first thought that came to Ranma's mind. 'I can't quite put my finger on what it is but something is defiantly weird.'

It wasn't the first time Ranma had felt this way in the past few weeks. Ever since the fight with Saffron, and ever since he started walking to school beside Akane instead of above her, Ranma had a strange feeling on their daily trek. It wasn't all the time, but it happened at least once on their way both to and from school.

He gazed around, kicking fallen leaves from his path. 'This isn't the feeling of being followed by Ryoga, or (shudder) Kodachi, I can't quite put my finger on it but it seems, I dunno', meaner. Almost like Saffron, but harder to pin down.'

'Huh, well if whatever it is thinks it can get its hands, or hooves, or tentacles on my Akane…Whoa, where did that come from? My Akane? It's not like I like her at all… that much…Anyway if she heard me say that she would send me back ta' China with that mallet of hers.'

"What do you want Ranma?"

"Huh?"

"You've been acting all fidgety, and looking at me for the last three blocks. That and you look like your dad stole your breakfast."

"Ah, it's nothin'."

"Humph, you were probably…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"I was probably what, Akane?"

"It's nothing, just drop it Ranma."

Ranma chose, wisely, for him_ incredibly_ wisely, to do just that. For the rest of the trip to school they were both silent. For Ranma this was fairly difficult, since the sensation of being followed had ended some time during his talk with Akane. It wasn't that he liked to talk so much as he didn't like it when Akane seemed so down, which she did now for some reason.

'I can't believe that I almost called him a pervert again.' Akane groaned internally. She had decided to try to be a bit nicer to Ranma, but just a little bit. At least until she got a chance to ask him the question that had been rolling around in her mind for the last few weeks. Back at Jusendo, when Ranma was holding her he had been telling her something. He cut off before he said what he had meant to, but while he was yelling her name she had felt something. It was almost like getting shocked, but it didn't really hurt, it seemed almost refreshing. And with the shock had come a part of an unspoken sentence. She was almost sure that it was Ranma's Ki she had felt and that meant the thoughts that came with it were his. She could almost make out what they were, but not quite. But she thought one of the words might be love. Now the only problem was how to find out for sure. Obviously she would have to ask Ranma, but how could she do it without him bolting, or ruining the moment by stammering and making up excuses.

During all this pondering Akane seemed to be depressed to Ranma but, Ranma never was one to be able to tell what people were feeling all that well, especially not girls. Ranma was considering saying something to make snap out of it, though most the options he considered would end up with her mad at him, and he had made a promise to himself to try to be nicer to her after she almost… But he never got the chance as they had just arrived at school, right on schedule Ranma's daily punching bag showed up.

"My soul bleeds to see that the fair Akane Tendo is still under the control of the foul sorcerer Ranma Saotome, but fear not my flower, I the valiant Tatewaki Kuno shall smite him and then, when his vile spell is broken you and I shall..."

"Kuno, do we really have to do this every day? I mean its getting kinda' old."

"You would interrupt me, villain? For this crude interference I shall fell you where you stand!"

As Kunos boken swung down aiming for his head Ranma had to admit that the 'Blue Thunder' was pretty fast. Before he had arrived Kuno and Akane were probably the two best martial artists in Nerima. After all Kuno could swing so fast the air pressure he generated could shatter stone. Ranma almost chuckled.

'He ain't nearly fast enough though'

Not in the mood to show Kuno that he couldn't beat him, ever, Ranma ended the battle with a side step and a quick kick to the head. As Ranma watched the samurai wannabe hit the ground he couldn't help but wonder how much longer this was going to go on. Sure Martial Arts were his life, but he had already beaten a demigod, a half dragon, and more than a few other assorted freaks and wackos. Beating on Kuno was almost, boring.

The usual crowd watched the somewhat shorter than normal fight with a faint air of being uninterested. Sure it was one of the greatest fighters of all time pounding on Kuno, one of the more irritating inhabitance of their school, but it was something that happened all the time. Nabiki was already taking bets on when Ranma would get tired of it all together and go ballistic on Kuno. Unfortunately for Kuno the latest bet was only a few weeks away. No one was sure why, but Ranma had seemed different after getting back from China. And the change did not bode well for the upperclassmen.

Another long and boring, for Ranma, day at school later and Ranma and Akane were on their way home. Again Akane seemed quiet and vaguely sad. Ranma was going to figure out something nice to say to snap her out of it, but that just wasn't him.

"So what's wrong with ya' already, Akane?"

"What?" Akane asked; she had been so close to figuring out a way to ask Ranma, and his question had caught her off guard. Then what he had said hit her.

"What do you mean '_wrong with me'_!? There's nothing wrong with me Baka!"

"Wait a second, I didn't mean…"

"Just because I don't spend all my time latching on to you and telling you how great you are like those other bimbos doesn't mean there is any thing wrong with me! And after all you…"

Ranma, not in the mood to get bashed again decided on a new strategy, one not involving shoving both feet in his mouth. He waited until she was done yelling at him and, after only a few seconds of hesitation made his reply.

"I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that ya' look kinda' down, and I wanted to know why, ok?"

Akane was shocked; Ranma had never acted like this before. It was completely out of character. Then she thought about the question she had for him. Maybe now was the right time.

"Ranma, when you thought I was dead, did you," she paused; the most horribly pained look had just come across Ranmas face, could it be that he felt that bad about almost losing her? Then he must love her right? "Did, well, I though I heard, or maybe felt, or well it is kind of hard to explain, but I think that you said or thought or felt that you, Ding Ding"

"That I what? Gack!"

Of course the Law of Ranma says that any time that something can go wrong, and will end up with Ranma getting pummeled, smashed, hammered, or bent, it will go wrong. This time it was a collision with a bike propelled by a certain purple haired Amazon.

"Wo ai ni, Airen!" Shampoo gushed as she locked Ranma in a hug that he was sure could cause chronic back problems.

As Ranma was about to ask why Shampoo felt she had to hit him with a bike every day when he started to feel something. It took him a second to realize why the feeling was so scary, after all Shampoo wasn't threatening.

As Shampoo was using broken Japanese to ask Ranma to take her on a date she suddenly felt her 'husband' tense, she found herself lying on air and abruptly obeyed the law of gravity. Unfortunately for Ranma, gravity seemed to ignore him as he sailed higher, wondering what kind of cold water he would land in this time. He didn't mind fountains or pools, but it was a bit hard to explain just exactly what that smell was as he tried to get home after some of his more unpleasant landings.

One good thing about his time up here; it always gave him time to think.

'Why, why can I never dodge Shampoo and her devil bike? I mean she always rings the bell, but I never can get out of the way. I can avoid Kuno and Mousse on their best days, so why is it so freakin' hard to avoid Shampoo? I couldn't be... flinching... could I? No way, I can take Ryogas hits without blinking, hell I didn't even flinch when Herb was blasting at me. And it isn't scary; after all I ain't afraid of anythin', except for those monsters people call (Shudder) cats.' As Ranma played his last few moments not spent in the air through his head something started to dawn upon him. It was the very last sight before rooftops and clouds. It was Akanes face. She seemed, as far as he could tell, even sadder than before. 'Could it be that I'm not afraid of the bike, or even of Shampoo? Is it Akane that makes me flinch? Nah, she hits me all the time, and it don't hurt that bad. Maybe it's cause' she's mad at me, or maybe it's 'cause she's sad? "

Ranma decided to figure it out once and for all. He cleared his mind, and then he imagined something that would make Akane mad. The joy he felt at smashing an imaginary P-Chan was short lived since it didn't produce any results.

'Well, picking on Ryoga makes Akane mad, not sad, lets try something else.. Hey Akane, your cooking tastes worse than road kill, and trust me, I would know!'

That did it! As his imaginary Fiancée stared sadly down at the ground, which was coming up rather quickly, Ranma felt his body involuntarily clamp down. His discovery distracted him from his landing and he went face first into the glass roof of an indoor swimming pool.

Ranma was ringing the last of the water from, currently, her shirt as he walked into the Tendo Dojo.

"Welcome home Ranma, How was school?" Kasumi stood in the kitchen cutting up some of the ingredients for dinner, and pivoted to greet Ranma as she did every day. Ranma instantly relaxed, for some reason just being in Kasumi's presence could make anyone's worst day seem alright. It was one of the things Ranma cherished most of all in Nerima, and it made Kasumi his second favorite person, after a certain dark haired fiancée.

"Hey Kasumi, it was fine. Did Akane get home yet?"

"Yes she did, though she seemed rather upset. You two had another fight today, didn't you?

"Yeah, well I didn't start it. I can't stop Shampoo from grabbing me even though I want to."

"Maybe you should talk to Akane, she did seem unusually upset. If you told her that you didn't like Shampoo maybe she won't get so mad. I think she is in the Dojo."

"But I have told her Kasumi! She just doesn't listen. And when I try to explain things she just gets mad and pounds me again. Nothing works. Any way I wanna' take a bath and get back to being a guy."

"Alright, but please try to talk to Akane, I know she may be stubborn, but she really is very kind and sweet."

Ranma just grunted as he headed off the furo and blessed warm water. Kasumi thought she heard him mutter something about Tomboys and violence, but decided to let it go. After all she had to go talk to Akane and get her to listen to Ranma when he decided to talk to her which, Kasumi was sure, would be soon. She couldn't help but smile as she thought about how nice it would be when Ranma and Akane were married. That brought thoughts of a certain spectacled doctor to her mind. She found herself blushing as she headed out to the Dojo.

Akane was furiously striking the pole in front of her. The body attached to it was nearly flat and the head with a fake pigtail hanging off it had already broken off and was slightly swaying from side to side in the floor across the room. Sweat was already streaming down her face, but she started hitting the dummy with even more force, after all the sweat helped hide the tears,

'That baka jerk, he acts like he cares about me and then he goes and starts making out with that, that… (Growl) Henti baka"

Her anger fueled a few slight additions to the memory. Ranma was now gently taking Shampoo in his arms, instead of being made into a human brake. It also prevented her from realizing she had said that last part out loud. And from hearing Kasumi enter.

"Really, Akane, you don't think Ranma willingly allows Shampoo to treat him that way, do you?"

"Humph, he's always talking about what a great Martial Artist he is, I could avoid Shampoo, and he certainly could too, if he wanted to."

Kasumi let what she guessed was a slight over assumption in he sisters skill slide. "Akane, you know if Ranma wanted Shampoo he could just go with her to china, Ukyo would probably follow him too, so why would he stay here if he wants Shampoo so much?"

"The jerk probably gets a kick out of making fun of me, I bet he just stays here to mock me."

"Akane, we both know that's not why."

Akane let go of a small, sad sigh. "Your right, I know. But some times I just feel like even after two years we aren't any closer, and every time I try to talk about it with Ranma he starts to stammer and ends up leaving." Another sigh came from Akane, this one was considerably louder.

"Well, it is hard for Ranma to deal with things like that, but don't worry I think things will get better. How about you wait for Ranma to talk to you, and then try to listen, thing are sure to work out."

"Yeah, if I wait for Ranma to talk I'll need hearing aids to listen; he never talks about that kind of stuff. But I guess I could try, for a little while anyway."

"Oh good, I am sure everything will turn out all right."

Kasumi started walking back to the kitchen and Akane went back to her somewhat simplistic training. 'Wait for _Ranma_ to talk to _me,_ huh, like that's ever going to happen. Oh well, I guess it couldn't hurt to try it.' The inanimate punching bag even managed to feel some relief. Now it no longer had to endure blows that could turn cinder blocks to dust.

Ranma emerged from the changing room mostly relaxed and fully male. He wished he could calm down, but what Kasumi said had convinced him. He had almost figured out what to say to Akane, now he just had to find her, and get her to listen. He had the sneaking suspicion that he wasn't the only one Kasumi had talked to, he only hoped that Akane had taken her older sisters advice, unless it was advice against listening, but of course Kasumi wouldn't do that, Nabiki maybe, but not Kasumi.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise. The feeling of being watched was back, but this was the first time he had felt it at the Tendos. He decided it could wait and shrugged it off for the moment. After all people were constantly trying to kill him, but he only rarely had both the courage and the chance to talk to his Akane. There it was again. His Akane? He was starting to sound like Kuno.

He turned as he passed the kitchen, and turned to look in. "Hey Kasumi, is Akane still in the Dojo?"

"I think so Ran," she suddenly stopped talking, as she turned towards Ranma the window facing the outer wall came into view.

"Oh My!" Almost before she was done saying the words a blinding flash of light erupted front the direction of the yard. The sound was so deafening Ranma found himself pressing his hands to his ears and closing his eyes. When he looked up he immediately wished he hadn't.

Resting against the wall opposite the window was Kasumi. Her face was badly cut from the glass exploding inward. Small shards that glistened like water were stuck in her hair. She also had a large red gash that seemed to be growing larger, right across her neck.

Ranma recoiled from the sight and moments later his mouth that had been hanging open started yelling madly. "Kasumi! No! Get up, come on, get up Kasumi! We need to get you to Dr. Tofu. Please, please Kasumi get up." By the time the last words fell out he was trembling and his vision was blurred with tears. The calm voice that came through what had been a wall barely registered at first.

"Damn, I guess that wasn't the one we wanted, oh well she must be around here somewhere."

Standing in the rubble of a wall, window and counter was a man in a flowing light brown robe. Strange green markings snaked their way around the arms and legs and waist, and next to a scabbard with a long sword in it at the mans side.

If his voice didn't jog Ranma the next one he heard certainly did. "What happened…Kasumi? Oh no!"

Akane had apparently gone around the house as she was now on what was left of a lawn behind the robed figure.

Without even a seconds hesitation Ranma was moving to put himself between Akane and the intruder. But even his unmatchable speed wasn't enough. With a single fluid motion and without turning his head the man in robes unsheathed a sword that seemed to glow a faint red and swung it in a wide circle.

Ranma saw it all in slow motion; Akane looked away from her sister towards the blade streaking closer to her. She started to get out of the way. But it was too late. The actual strike couldn't have taken more that an instant, but to Ranma it, and watching her fall seemed to take two eternities.

It was impossible to talk, to move, even to breath. The girl he loved, the woman who he would always see as a mother, both taken within seconds, and without reason. The man turned to face him.

"For someone who is obviously a skilled Martial Artist you don't appear to have seen much death, that is a fatal flaw." As he laughed lightly at his pun Ranma started to regain motion.

He was already lunging at the figure in front of him as more words fell from his lips, though he wasn't aware of it. "…Loved her…No reason…Can't be…I'll **KILL YOU"**

"Now now, you're angry, not thinking clearly. That's hardly the state to attack someone in. And really, do you expect those wild punches to connect, at least try to have some control."

Ranma didn't hear any of it, or at least he didn't seem to. He had been throwing punches at Chestnut fist speed, but few managed to connect and those that did were blocked with seemingly no effort with only one hand as the other still held his sword.

"You aren't really on my list, and it would be a shame to kill such a promising Artist as you without a reason, so why don't you just give up? I promise I'll let you go." The offer only seemed to increase the speed and power or Ranmas blows. "No? Oh well, all that potential wasted."

Suddenly Ranma found himself gliding amidst a rain of sword strikes. The first one to connect neither hurt nor slowed him down. In pressing his attack his opponent had let his guard down, only a bit but it was enough. Within a tenth of a second twenty blows connected with the mans ribs. Instantly a lightning fast kick separated Ranma and his nameless foe.

"Wow, I felt that one, even through this," he said tenderly rubbing the fabric above his chest. "I guess I underestimated you, well its time to finish this."

The swordsman assumed a stance with his hip holding the now sheathed sword behind him, slightly bent at the waist with his upturned hand slightly above the blade.

For the first time in the battle Ranma planed out his next attack. If he could hit the end of the sword before it was fully drawn with one hand that would leave his other to go for the mans throat. One punch was all it would take; sure it was risky, almost certainly suicide, but at the moment Ranma didn't really care. He would take his enemy out, what ever happened after that didn't matter.

Ranma made his move. It was over in a fraction of a second, the man and Ranma were now back to back on opposite sides. After a brief moment Ranma dropped to his knees.

'No, I know I hit his sword. I Know It!'

"That was truly impressive Ranma. If I were anyone else I would probably be dead now. But in the end you didn't stand a chance." He spoke slowly and deliberately as he sheathed a second short sword in a scabbard on his back.

That was the last image of the man Ranma had, as he fell to the floor he could feel the life oozing out of him. He managed to turn his head to see where Akane had fallen. Before it all went black he managed to squeeze out the one thing he could never say

"Akane, I love y…"

"We can't have you dieing now Ranma, there is still so much for you to do."

As he slowly opened his eyes Ranma found himself in an almost bear off white room. The only other occupant was a tall man in cloths that looked vaguely like what Ranma usually wore after a few too many washing.

"Am I dead?"

"You were."

"Where am I?"

First let's get you something to eat; we have a lot to talk about."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. The Second Chance

A Second Chance Ch. 2

The Second Chance

Ranma found the building he was now in vaguely similar to the cafeteria at his school. There was an aisle between several long tables set up parallel to each other. Currently there were few other occupants besides himself and the man sitting across from him spread out across the room. Ranma couldn't help but notice that as soon as they sat down the others in the room seemed to scoot out just a bit further from them.

He only realized that he was hungry after the smell of, well he wasn't exactly sure what the smell was, but he was certain it was food. A young woman wearing in nearly identical clothes to the man opposite him set down a large tray holding several nearly identifiable dishes in front of him. She walked away quickly, but couldn't help but look back at Ranma once before she turned a corner into what was assumable the kitchen and was gone. The stares of the other occupants of the room were quickly becoming obvious to Ranma as well.

"What's with these people? And where am I? And who are you? And,"

"Whoa, one thing at a time. My name is Shiraoso Mamaji, but you can call me Shiro. And those people are staring at you because of where you are staring at you," he raised his voice for a moment, "Rather Obviously," immediately all the eyes in the room that had been trained on Ranma were on the floor or the meals in front of them, "because of where you are."

"Huh?"

"Let's start with this: what was your last memory before you woke up a moment ago?"

"I was fighting that guy, and… I saw... Oh no, is Akane alright? You saved her too, right? Can I see her? And Kasumi too."

The long pause caused all the joy that had flooded Ranma to vanish, and when Shiro started to speak the last spark of hope disappeared with it. "Ranma, we needed to save you. And I can only transport one person at a time with me. I'm sorry, but there was nothing that I could do."

If Shiro ever wondered what 'Dead Eyes' meant he didn't any more. Ranma seemed to deflate as he lowered his head. At first he just sat there, slouched over with his hair hiding his eyes from view. When Ranma spoke it wasn't with the breaking voice of someone trying to hold back tears, or even the soft weak voice that comes from immeasurable sadness. His voice was blank, completely devoid of any emotion. It was the voice of someone who had given up entirely on everything.

"I loved her. I, I was gunna' tell her that. And we… we were gunna' talk about our relationship. Heh, I never called it that before. And things were going to change… to get better, and… now she's…gone."

With that last word whatever was left or the man known as Saotome Ranma was gone. Shiro found himself at a complete loss for words. He had done things like this a hundred times before. He had planned all this out; he knew it would be all right, and still…

"She isn't lost yet Ranma."

Shiro wasn't even able to see his arms when Ranma reached across the table and grabbed his shoulders, but he did know that if he squeezed much harder his joints would pop out.

"Where?" Without even waiting for an answer Ranma, much to Shiros relief, let go and was on his feet. He quickly looked around as if to spot the way to go to get to Akane.

"Not where Ranma, when. Remember when I told you that I brought you here?"

Ranma mumbled a brief affirmation. If Shiro had been talking about some 'she still lives in your memories' crap he would need a new face. Ranma wasn't one to take his feelings out on others, but right now he was a bit out of charter. And what could one time hurt?

"And that people were staring at you because you were here"

Again Ranma only agreed, but this time it was clear his patience was running thin.

"Well that's because here isn't on you Earth." Ranma's eyebrow raising was his only answer.

"I know it may be hard to believe, but hear me out. Right now you are on Earth, but not your Earth. This is the Earth where I came from. Our planet is considerably more advanced than yours and as a result we were able to find and access other Earths. For nearly 500 years we have been watching the other Earths and making sure that nothing goes too wrong with them."

After looking around for a little bit Ranma made let out a sigh and small chuckle.

"I kinda' figured that something in my messed up life would land me here, for an asylum this is a pretty nice place."

Shiro let out a long tired sigh, 'every time, why do they always think that. Everybody's a skeptic'. "I can prove to you that I am telling the truth, but for now just listen a bit longer. Now the man you fought," Shiro found himself leaning back a bit; at that reference Ranma seemed to radiate hostility. Shiro had read his file and knew all about the incident with Saffron. It would seem wise to give Ranma his space.

"Ahem, uh, his name is Gicho Nuramasa; he used to be one of the people we would send to other worlds. See, we don't like to interfere, but if we have too we try to send in only a few extremely skillful operatives, it lowers our impact. Anyway he used to work for us, but a few weeks ago something happened, he started become obsessed with some kind of 'answer.' When anyone would ask him about it he would go on a rant about us not being capable of understanding. His last mission was a simply one to make sure a kid got bitten by an irradiated spider, but after it was completed he, along with three other operatives, simply vanished. They took the devices that allow them to travel between Earths with them. He showing up on your world was the first trace of him we found, we had seven of our best go after him, but none of them reported back, we doubt they ever will."

"So just tell me how to find this Gicho guy. I'll take care of him." Ranma punctuated his sentences with cracking knuckles, his face twisted from an incredibly pained to a smile that would make the most evil of being cower.

"Well it's not that simple. We don't just intervene when we think it is best for a planet. We do it at times when it is necessary for that planet to continue. We determine this by, well the process is long and complicated so let's just say we can see the future."

Again Ranma's look of sarcasm appeared on his face.

"What? You can believe that you fought a reality shifting government agent but not that we can predict likely futures for each planet?"

Ranma heaved a long sigh "I must be crazy. Anyway what does all this have to do with saving Akane?"

"I'm getting to that. Now for your world there is also a predicted future. And before you ask, no I can't tell you what it is." Ranma closed his mouth and looked slightly irritated. "What I can tell you is that it is important that both you and Akane survive for a long time to come. That means we have to prevent her from dieing. To do that we could send you back to the moments before she was killed, but that wouldn't change anything. The only other time we can send you back is about the time you got your curse."

"…Now you're saying that you can send me back in time? But only to when Akane… died… or when I got cursed? What's with the gap? I mean didn't you say you guys had been at this for hundreds of years? Couldn't you be a bit more accurate?"

"Uh, some questions are best left unanswered."

"But wait a sec,"

"Moving on, we need to send you back to the time when you were cursed, that way you can train harder, or something, and be ready next time. However you need to know that in doing this we will already be damaging your history. So to limit the damage there are a few ground rules. First, until someone teaches you, you can not use any of your Ki attacks. Second, there are some things that have to happen in your time line, so don't expect to be able to change everything. Akane will still get kidnapped, unusually often, and you will still end up having some of the best martial artists trying to kill you. Third, you can't tell anyone about this. As far as anyone is concerned you are just the Ranma from back then."

"Hold on a second! What does it matter if I tell people about this? I mean, what will that change?"

"Well, it would be rather hard to protect Akane from a padded cell, wouldn't it?"

Shiro cut off Ranmas reply. "You should also know that, while your physical condition won't be any different from what it was then, you will have about the same Ki abilities. You will also have foreknowledge of what will happen." After a short pause to get Ranma undivided attention he continued. "However, just because you can change something does not mean you should. You have actually been extremely fortunate. Some of the things you did inadvertently prevented other possible futures that wouldn't be so easy on you."

Ranma didn't know what 'inadvertently' meant, but he got the just of the message and nodded. But what damage could come from 'fixing' some of his mistakes in life. After all some changes could give him the edge, right.

"Now are you ready to go?"

"Huh?"

"Are you ready for us to send you back?"

The machine that stood before Ranma was somewhat less than impressive. It reminded him somewhat of an ad he had seen for a movie called Monsters, something or other, at the moment he couldn't quite remember. "Are you sure this is going to work? It won't turn me in ta', well I don't even know what."

"What do you mean? Of course it's safe!" The fact that Shiros voice was carried to him through a PA, while the actual Shiro was separated from him by about twenty feet of concrete didn't boost Ranmas confidence.

"You're not going to back out, are you? Your not afraid, are you Ranma?" The slight mocking tone in his voice was not lost on Ranma.

"I ain't afraid of anything!" With this Ranma threw himself into the opened door in front of him.

Ranma found herself in a soaking wet Gi, running through the brush after an equally soggy panda. The only thought on his mind was to kill the damned bear, and then see if there was a 'spring of drowned boy'.

He tested his limbs, and found them to be about the strength he remembered them. Then he tried using Ki. The result almost made him lose track of his dad. It was just like Shiro had said, his Ki was at least twice as strong as it had been at this time, and he had considerably better control over it. She found a slight grin creeping to her lips. Maybe all this wasn't so bad after all. Immediately the image of Akane being cut down right in front of him flashed through his mind.

He kept after the father turned Panda, but the scenery was harder to navigate as Ranma only saw it through the blur of tears.


	3. At enemies

A Second Chance Ch. 3

At Enemies

Hey everybody! Thanks for the reviews. I think I can post a new chapter about once a week, but don't get mad if it takes a little longer. Life tends to get in the way of writing. Anyway thanks for reading my story. Enjoy. BTW: Don't own 'em.

After a moment Ranma was able to regain his composure. He just kept telling himself that she wasn't dead, he would see Akane again. And yet, it seemed that every time he thought her name there was a slight pain in his chest. He found he was getting more and more anxious to see her. Shiro had said it was possible to change the things that happened in his life, one thing that he would defiantly change was his relationship with his tomboy fiancée. Maybe it would be possible to change his other relationships as well. He hadn't seen Uchan since he was a child, but she was still the closest thing to a friend he had. It would be nice to have her as just a friend. But how? After all aside from making her an enemy or paying her back for the cart his father stole there wasn't a whole lot he could do. For now he tried to push those things out of his mind, he would deal with those things when they came up.

While pursuing his, currently animal shaped, father through the forest another thought came to Ranma. 'Say, didn't Ryoga say I knocked him in ta' the pig spring right about now? I wonder if I really do or not? I mean there aren't many girls chasin' pandas around out in the middle of China, so I guess it must be me. Hmm…' For just an instant all the things Ryoga had done to Ranma came to mind. All the insults, the attacks, and sleeping with Akane, even if it was as… a… pig. Well there was one problem solved, no dunking for Ryoga meant no P-Chan. Shiros warning about not changing the things that happened only briefly entered his mind.

'What could be so bad about saving Ryoga, if it will make him not quite so crazily obsessed with killing me it may just be a good thing. After all, even if he ain't as good as me, he ain't bad. If we worked together I'm sure we could whip that Gicho punk.'

Ranma was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost didn't notice how quickly the brush was thinning. He seemed to be coming up on a break in the forest, and by now he was right behind Genma. One more powerful jump brought him out of the bamboo all together. Suddenly a movement just under his feet caught his attention.

She was only just able to see the lost boy as Ryoga jumped out of the way of a raging panda. He wasn't able to avoid a mid-air collision however. She saw Ryoga hit the edge of a ridge and ricochet off towards the valley below and towards one spring in particular. He noticed that it seemed to be in the rough shape of a pigs head, or at least pretty close, like the patch Akane had put on Happosi. Ranma also noticed that there was no physical was he could reach Ryoga. He was going in a different direction, in mid-air, without anything to rebound off of.

'Crud, I guess I got no choice. I know I'm not supposed ta' use Ki attacks yet, but there's no was I'm gunna' let Ryoga get cursed again.'

Ranma gathered a good sized, for a small car, ball of ki in his hands. And shot it towards the spring. In an instant the ki beam had streaked past Ryoga and into the spring, which was now nothing but a rising tower of steam, steam of the drowned pig. Ranma almost let out a sigh of relief

Ranma was landing on a bamboo pole as the steam got closer to Ryoga. 'Aw nuts, steam rises, doesn't it.' He let out a slight chuckle and a muttered apology as he launched a second ki blast. This one straight at his past rival and hopefully future friend. As it impacted Ryoga flew off into the brush, well out of the area of any springs. 'Alright, now I just gotta' get out of here and get home. Suddenly a thought struck him; the Tendo Dojo was the first and only place he had ever thought of as home. By the time he could consider such things he had already been on the road with his father for years. They had stayed at more than a few places along the way, some for a relatively long time. But when he thought about the Dojo he felt like a warm blanket was around him. It was a place where he could run to, a place to regroup. No other place gave him that feeling, not even the house his mother had tried to make him live in. Simply thinking the words gave him a rush of memories: fights, apologies, and training, even things he thought of as irritating like finding P-Chan or running from Shampoo.

Oh yeah, Shampoo. Ranma had his first encounter with her fairly soon, didn't he? For a while he pondered just avoiding the whole Amazon tribe, but that idea was soon abandoned. After all, even if Shampoo was as annoying as hell, if she came eventually that old ghoul would too. And as much as he hated to admit it she probably knew ten times as much about martial arts as he did, if only because she had lived many times longer than he had. The secret attacks he had already learned were probably only the tip of the iceberg. Yes, as little as he liked the idea he needed Shampoo after him. But maybe there was a way to do it without her being engaged to him. He would have to think about that. For now he started heading back to the Jusenkyo guides hut. It had been a long last few days, and all he was feeling up for right now was a warm meal and a place to sleep. And especially a glass of hot water.

Ryoga was having a bad enough day already. First he had managed to get even farther from Japan, and was now lost in some godforsaken wilderness in the middle of China. Then he had managed to lose most of his supplies when he had been climbing this ridge to get a better look at the terrain. And now he was falling after some crazy girl and panda duo had teamed up on him, for some reason trying to push him off the ledge. As he fell he realized something, 'It must be Ranma. He must have been close by, but he was too afraid to fight me. I guess he had those two do his dirty work for him. Huh, that pathetic coward. When I find him I'll…'

Ryogas thoughts were cut off as an enormous beam of Ki flew past him and into the water below. What now! He felt his heart drop, or since he was falling head first, rise, as he saw the pool below him turn into steam. There was only one person who would try to destroy his only safe landing. Ryoga could feel his hatred of that coward Saotome building.

As he was preparing for the scalding that was sure to come from the upcoming steam he sensed another ki blast heading towards him, this one was smaller though. 'Ha, if Ranma wants to finish me off himself he'll need more than...' Once more Ryoga was stopped in mid thought as the blast impacted with him. Something was wrong, he hadn't felt that the attack was too strong, and yet it hit him so hard he was seeing stars and was dizzy, or he would have been if he wasn't already flying through the air.

The last thing he saw as he lost conciseness was a stand of bamboo coming up fast.

As Ranma entered the Jusenkyo guides hut he was almost relived to see that his father wasn't there. As much as he deserved a beating Ranma just didn't feel like it. He was worn out by the events of the last few days, and he had a lot of thinking to do in the next few days. He usually wasn't one for lots of planning but if he wanted to figure out a way to get to Colognes wisdom without having Shampoo for a fiancée he would have to. Most of the plans that came to mind wouldn't work and were quickly vetoed. There just didn't seem to be a way to get to Cologne without going through Shampoo, and the only way he could think to do that was to be her fiancée. It was either that or promise something in return for the knowledge to Cologne, and a debt to the Amazons was the last thing Ranma wanted. Well, maybe he would think better in the morning

"Hey, I think I'm gunna' turn in," was all he said to the guide before departing to the guest houses out back.

"Good night Costumer"

Genma was more than a little concerned by what he had just seen. He had always prided himself on training a skilled martial artist as a son, but what Ranma had just done went a few levels beyond what Genma, and most of the others Ranma had trained with, were capable of. Sure, in a pinch he could pull of a giant aura, and once or twice he had been able to muster enough ki to make skilled adversaries think twice before facing him, but he had no where near the training to use a ki blast like the one he had just seen his son use. Normally he would have been hardly able to control his boasting about how well he had trained his son. However that was the problem, currently his son was his daughter. And Ranma seemed to blame him for it. He had known well before they got to Jusenkyo that the path of a martial artist was fraught with peril and he still followed. So what if they hadn't known the extent of the dangers that faced them here? Ranma was far from being a man among men if he allowed a little thing like this to get him so bent out of shape. Hmm, maybe this was an opportunity for further training. If Ranma was so easily aggravated to the point he would attack his father he could certainly be pushed to the point where he would make mistakes fighting. Well if repeated punches could make one more durable, perhaps repeated insults could make one less susceptible to rage. Well, it was worth a try. But for tonight he would let Ranma have his space.

There she was. The girl he had killed a demigod for. The girl who had smacked him from one side of Japan to the other. The girl who was always getting in the way, and getting kidnapped. The only one for Ranma. Just seeing her gave him higher spirits than he had had in what seemed like forever. And better yet she was smiling. He knew then, without a doubt that Akane was the one he would choose. There had never really been ant competition, Akane had won his heart long ago, but this was the first time he had ever really decided on it.

He just stood there staring at her. Making sure he remembered her exactly, from the radiant, perfumed hairs of her head to her toes. He expected to be sent flying any second now, but it didn't really bother him, except that he would no longer get to see her. Well, at least until he got back from where ever he landed.

Without warning Akane tumbled over and landed hard, though without a sound. Standing behind her was the man called Gicho. Ranma didn't have time to say anything before the robed man turned and started to leave. Without thinking Ranma launched himself at the other man. As his hands impacted with the materiel of Gichos robe the man inside it vanished. Ranma was left flying through the air holding the robe and nothing else. The instant he landed he turned to see where Akane was. She lied on the floor only a few meters from where he stood. A long slash across her back was rapidly leaking blood. In less than an instant he had her in his arms. Slowly she turned her face up, smiled at him, and almost suddenly her face lost all expression. Ranma tried, but for some reason he couldn't talk, couldn't scream, almost couldn't breath. Gradually the image faded into blackness as Ranma Awoke in the visitors hut at Jusenkyo.

He wiped some of the sweat from his forehead and stood up. He would not be getting any more sleep tonight. With images of Akanes blank face in his mind he walked outside and started katas at almost inhuman speed. For hours the only noises were his breathing and the occasional cry of birds in the forest.

The day seemed to sneak up on Ranma, and before he knew it the guide was leading him and his father to the tribe of Amazons that lived near Jusenkyo. Along the way he gave information about local plants and animals, local lore, and the tribe they were going to visit.

Ranma didn't pay attention. Not only was he not very interested in any of the subjects, but three days of near sleep depravation made it a little hard to concentrate on both the tour guides voice and the trail ahead of him. Every nigh he had only been asleep for a few hours when the dream hit. It was not always the same, sometimes he and Akane were out around town, or at school. Sometimes she wore the everyday cloths, sometimes she wore a gi, once she was even in traditional clothing. But not once had Ranma been able to save her. Or to lay a blow on the dream Gicho.

His body was more or less following the guide on auto pilot. Ranma was using all of his remaining brain power to figure out a way to deal with his upcoming fiancée problem. Even after three days of thought he didn't seem any closer. He had considered almost anything, from kidnapping Shampoo, far too likely to get him killed, to just avoiding the village, which would mean no Cologne. Chomp maybe if he were to find a way to become an honorary Amazon… naw, even if he knew how his pop wouldn't let his son join a tribe of warrior women. Wait a second, Chomp?

Ranma blinked three times rapidly and threw down the pork bun he had already half devoured. He looked around in horror. His father and he had already eaten about half the banquet at the table he assumed was marked First place. He hopped up and landed on the Bonibari that split the table he had been sitting on.

"You there! Woman and Panda! Why do you steal my prize?!" The guide translated in his heavily accented Japanese as the lavender haired amazon in front of Ranma spoke.

Ranma couldn't think of any other option that would help him get to Colognes knowledge. He asked in his best curious voice "Prize?"

After the explanation of the martial arts show Ranma spoke again, this time straying from the path he had previously taken. "What happens to us? Since we stole the prize and all. What are they going to do?"

Ranma waited anxiously to the quick translation and response. The guide palled a bit, swallowed and turned back to Ranma. "Thieves considered very dishonorable. If found them and all who help them...are…"

"Are what?"

"Are executed?"

"WHAT? That's crazy!"

"That's our law. It had been for over three hundred years."

Ranma turned behind him and froze. There, not four feet from him stood the cause of all his problems. The amazon elder pogoed over to her great, great granddaughters side.

"She won that prize fairly, if you wish to pay her back for it you may, however unless you have a feast hidden somewhere around here that dose not seem possible.

Ranma let out a long sigh. So if I beat Shampoo and become the champion there isn't any problem is there?"

Both the younger and the (much) older amazon looked surprised for a moment. Shampoo said something in mandarin to the older one. Cologne only shrugged and gave a short reply to Shampoo. She then responded to Ranma. "If you think you can defeat the best young warrior of this tribe you are welcomed to try." And with that Shampoo made a superhuman leap to the suspended log which served as a battle ground. Al Ranma could do was follow

Before he was even done landing Shampoo was in swinging. A punch headed for his abdomen first. Ranma backed up just enough to dodge it, only to find a foot rapidly drawing closer to his face. When Ranma ducked the kick Shampoo brought her other foot up, Ranma narrowly evade the blow and Shampoo landed her back flip a few feet back on the log.

Ranma was puzzled. He had figured that after him and Ryoga, and maybe Pantyhose Taro, Shampoo was the best Martial Artist in Nerima. But normally she wasn't nearly this fast. Something was wrong…

Ranma didn't have time to finish that thought as Shampoo once more put him on the defensive. With combinations of punches and kicks constantly driving him back Ranma was quickly running out of room on the log. As his back came in contact with the rope suspending the 'ring' he realized how desperate his situation was. And again he wondered how Shampoo was so good. Even as tired as he was he should be able to hold his own, and then some. But again it was not a good time for thinking. As Shampoo launched another sweeping kick Ranma realized he wouldn't be able to block it. He was too tired and was already not very well balanced as a result of being pushed back so fast. He did the only thing he could think of. Ranma jumped up, placed his hand on Shampoos head, pushed off and did an aerial flip and turn landing half way down the log facing Shampoos back.

Then he realized what it was that was off. Shampoo wasn't better, he was worse. His ki and mind might be what it was, or more appropriately would be, but his body was the same as it had been. He was lacking two years of training, growing, and improving his abilities. He was mentally fighting like he had already underwent the training but his body hadn't developed, and was a little bit behind. That and the lack of rest for the past few days boded ill for Ranma indeed. He needed to do something or he wouldn't even get to see Akane again, not to mention save her, and get her to fall in love with him.

Shampoo turned in a split second and was headed towards Ranma with a pace that was not altogether slow, but not nearly as quick as she had been moving at the beginning of the match. She was now cautious of this red-headed girl. She had thought at first she would be no real challenge, and had wanted to end this match quickly. Now however she realized that the girl wasn't fighting at full potential. That jump she had preformed was proof enough that she was skilled. There weren't many, even in the higher ranks of her tribe, that could pull off such a stunt so quickly, and land so easily. What was more; Shampoo could sense the ki of the girl she was fighting. It wasn't rare to find a skilled Martial Artist that used ki as an aura to throw off their opponents, but this was different. Her foe was not purposely casting off ki. It seemed more like her ki was too big for her body. It was obvious that the girl was trained in more than a few ki attacks.

That thought frightened Shampoo. Even though she was the most skilled young warrior in her tribe her Great, great grandmother had refused to teach her any ki attacks yet. She had said they were too dangerous for her and she would learn them when she was older. Shampoo had almost laughed. She routinely sparred with swords and even her giant maces, could ki really be so powerful that she was not ready to handle it? If that girl had a weapon of that magnitude and chose not to use it, it was either because she was supremely arrogant or because she was really able to beat Shampoo without it or because she was saving it for later. Except for the first possibility, which Shampoo doubted, those choices were cause for pause.

Ranma saw the change in Shampoos pace. It worried him. She had been taking him far too lightly, and as a result Ranma could keep up. But if Shampoo really started fighting, well after three days with next to no sleep Ranma defiantly couldn't outlast her. And in her state she couldn't out muscle her or beat her in speed. After all Shampoo had been training her body from child hood, Ranma had just gotten his. Well, it looked like he could only beat her by doing the unexpected.

Within a blink of an eye Ranmas hands were up and he was gathering ki in them. Just after that blink Ranma fired off a ki ball

Shampoo was right; the strange foreign girl could use ki. And unfortunately Shampoo couldn't block it. The blast caught her in the stomach, just a little off to the left. This succeeded in knocking the wind out of her and pushing her off balance. The ground rushed up to meet her.

As Shampoo picked herself up all she could think about was the shame of being beaten by an outsider. She immediately knew she had only one course of action. She would have to give the outsider the Kiss of Death. That thought didn't sit well with Shampoo. She may be a warrior, but she had yet to kill anyone and didn't relish the prospect of having to start now. But she had no choice. What had to be done had to be done. Shampoo readied herself, turned to the outsider, and froze.

Ranma hadn't realized how low his reserves of ki were. After his attack he found his legs quickly turned to jelly. Standing, even of the flat ground, was all but impossible. She managed to watch Shampoo to make sure she was falling before she hit the ground herself. Now that he was down there was no chance of him getting up for quite a while without help. That help came in the form of two strong arms lifting him to his feet. He hadn't expected to see Shampoos face when he followed the course of the arms with his eyes.

After a short burst of noise from the crowd Shampoo spoke directly to Ranma in broken Japanese. "You prove you self very good warrior. You able to tie with Shampoo. For this feat you is Shampoos sister."

This was followed by an even louder burst of noise from the crowd; even Cologne looked surprised, for a moment. Then she let out a low chuckle. It was a very wise move for her great, great granddaughter. If Shampoo was beaten she would have to carry out the Kiss of Death. However if it was a tie she could adopt the outsider into her tribe. And after all, the Kiss of Death was never given to tribe members.

Ranma stood and nodded numbly. After the past few days all he wanted to do was collapse into a bed. Then it hit him. He was in the tribe! He could get to Cologne without being engaged to Shampoo. He was overjoyed, had he the energy he would be jumping up and down. He was so out of it by the mix of exhaustion and enthusiasm that he didn't notice as an amazon brought a pot of tea to share with her new sister. He barley even noticed the surprised exclamation as she tripped over a stone that had been dislodged slightly from the ground.

Ranma and Genma made their way from the Amazon camp at full speed. Shampoo was in her yurt, gathering her things for travel.

Ryoga awoke on a mattress of soft bamboo shoots. He was covered with the pelt of some animal he couldn't exactly identify. Immediately he was on his feet.

"Where did that coward Ranma go? Feh, he can run all he wants, I'll still have my revenge."

"So you want Revenge, do you?" Ryoga turned to see the speaker. Crouched near a stand of Bamboo was a woman, whose age was difficult to place, she could be in her late twenties or even in her early forties. It didn't help that Ryoga was lousy at guessing age. "I can help you to get your revenge."

"Thanks, but I think I can take Ranma without your help, besides fighting him two on one wouldn't restore my honor."

"I wasn't talking about fighting this Ranma person with you. I was talking about training you. With my aid you can become the strongest man alive."

For a moment Ryoga pondered the offer. But why not, after all he had nothing to lose. He smiled grimly and said "You're on."

TO BE CONTINUED…..


	4. The Crossing

A Second Chance Ch. 4

The Crossing

Hello again everyone. Thanks for reading. I wasn't really happy with the ending of the last chapter so I fleshed it out in this one via the age old flash back. Well, enjoy.

Ranma was not in the best of moods. Being cold, tired, and especially wet usually had that effect on him. As he swam steadily beside his father he couldn't help but wonder if this was really training or if his father was too cheap to buy a ticket for them to get back to Japan.

But without a doubt it was worth it. Even if they had to this course ten times it would be worth it just to see her face. Ranma instantly felt warm and rejuvenated. Three days wasn't such a long trip. And after all they were already on day three. In only a few more hours they would be seeing shore. And then it was just a day or so to get to Nerima, and then he would finally be there. Maybe then these damned nightmares would stop.

He almost was actually almost grateful for the swim for that reason. As long as they were swimming and not sleeping the dreams couldn't get to him. He wouldn't feel completely powerless as he watched her be killed. He wouldn't wake up again and again with feelings of anger, confusion, and most of all a sorrow almost covering over everything else.

No, he didn't have the time to think about those things. If he kept swimming he would be with her soon, and then nothing could happen to her. He wondered how long it would take if he sped up, again. Apparently he was already turning thoughts into actions.

"Slow down, boy! If you use up all your energy trying to get there faster you won't be able to make it all the. And I am not going to carry you. After all you are already on the road to…"

Genma kept talking but Ranma had long since tuned it out. He couldn't think about the dreams, and thinking about Akane just made him go want to get there faster, which would make him go faster. And for once Genma was right, if Ranma kept increasing his pace he would never make it all the way to Japan. The result was an unease that settled in Ranmas stomach and weighed him down more than if he were carrying the stones Genma suggested. Feh, that idiot would call anything training. Gradually he let his mind wander, and soon enough it was going over the events of the last few days, especially the time spent in China.

Queue the Flashback!

He was a he again. Normally he would be overjoyed, but this time all he felt was dread. Why? Did fate have it in for him? Why would he inevitably have his curse triggered at the time where it would have the worst possible effect?

After the Amazons had found out he was a male their greeting changed some what. First there was a long pause then, before Ranma could get a breath to try to explain there were all over him. At first he made ready to defend himself. He didn't like to hit girls, but there were times where he had to do what he had to do. But they didn't seem to want to fight him.

In an instant there were about six middle aged amazons gathered around Ranma all talking excited and fast and in a language Ranma couldn't understand. Little hands produced measuring tools, seemingly from no where, and started taking Ranmas measurements. The group of women made Ranma uncomfortable; this went a few steps beyond that.

"Ah! What tha' hell do ya' think your doin'? Get away from there! Hey what, I need that shirt! It's my favorite!"

"Calm down son in law, they are only taking it to make sure your new clothing will be the perfect fit."

"What? What's going on? I didn't beat her so she doesn't have to marry me, right?"

"Well now, how would you know about the Kiss of Marriage?" Cologne cut off Ranmas babbled attempt at an explanation, "Never mind, anyway you are wrong. If the outsider is a female and the match is a draw there is no problem, after we expect outside women to be strong. However if the outsider is a male anything less than complete victory is considered failure, and results in the Kiss of Marriage. After all, if a man can even parallel our warriors they must be something special indeed."

"But I have to get to," Ranma was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. "Yeah?" he said as gruffly as he could manage, which, at the moment wasn't very impressive.

As he turned he saw something getting closer to him. Ranma didn't have the time to dodge before a human vise named Shampoo was clamped onto him. Ranma found himself wishing he had breathed in, and after Shampoo finished kissing him he was gasping for breath. Shampoo giggled.

"Did Shampoo leave Airen breathless?" Her voice and the look on her face and the certain 'assets' of hers that were pressed firmly against him would have turned almost anyone's will to jelly. But Ranma was not just anyone.

'Think of Akane, think of Akane, think of Akane, oh, squishy, nooo! Think of Akane' Ranma repeated his new mantra in his mind over and over as he thought up what to say.

"I'm really sorry Shampoo, but I need to get to Japan, and I can't marry you."

Ranma was ready for a beating, or even Shampoo pouting at him, but he was not prepared for what happened next. Shampoo actually looked surprised. For the first time in memory Ranma saw Shampoo speechless. For a moment, at least.

"Is Airen… disappointed, in Shampoo? Is… Shampoo no… good enough?" Tears an actress would be proud of started to roll down Shampoos cheeks.

If two years had changed Ranma at all one thing it hadn't changed was his naïveté. "Aw come on Shampoo, don't cry. It's just that I gotta' get to Japan, and, well I can't let you come with me.

Shampoo was about to speak up but Cologne interrupted her. "Your mind is not easily changed, is it son in law?"

" 'Fraid not."

Without another word Cologne moved towards Ranma. By now he knew that any time Cologne got within range to use her staff it was usually to use it some how. The only question was if she would go for a pressure point or simply knock him out. Either way Ranma wasn't sure if he could dodge it. His body simply wasn't fast enough. His only choices were to a) get away, which he couldn't, since he was surrounded by amazons and held in place by Shampoo, or b) Fight Cologne all out right now. This was bad for two reasons, not only was Ranma not sure he could beat Cologne but even if he did he wouldn't get to the information she had on secret techniques. I t seemed to be a lose, lose situation for Ranma.

During the few seconds Ranma used to figure all this out Cologne got steadily closer to him. By the time Ranma had decided to try to get out of Shampoos grip and use the Saotome Secret Technique called fast break Cologne was practically next to him. In the next instant Ranma felt a slight tap on his lower neck.

"Aw cr," was all Ranma managed to get out before he was unconscious on the ground.

Cologne was in the midst of giving instructions to a few of the nearby amazons when she noticed the look on her great, great granddaughters face. Shampoo seemed genuinely sad about something.

"What is it Shampoo? It isn't every day that you run into a husband as worthy as that one. You should be glad."

"Hm? Oh, no. Shampoo no is sad about Airen. Only sad that… Airen no seem to want Shampoo."

"I wouldn't worry about that. He just needs some time for all this to sink in. I'm sure he will be overjoyed by his luck soon." At this Shampoo smiled, but it seemed a bit weak.

"Ok Grandmother." She said with a strained attempt at ease. "Shampoo go to train now." Shampoo headed for the nearby forest with far greater speed than necessary. And even the practice swings she preformed at blinding speed didn't help to calm her down.

Why was she feeling this way? She was an amazon, one of the best fighters in the tribe, and would someday probably become an elder. So what should the opinion of male, especially an outsider male, matter to her? She didn't understand it, but she decided to take it on like all her other problems: head first. That 'Ranma' would be her husband and he would enjoy it, or else.

By the time Ranma awoke it was dark. The only light came from a small window with bars set in it. He quickly realized that this was a jail of sorts. It seemed the amazons wouldn't just sit by and let him leave. Oh well, Ranma hadn't expected an easy escape. He started to take stock of the room around him. There were two beds suspended from opposite walls buy thick ropes, Ranma doubted he could remove them without either tools or a few days to work on them, there were a few blankets but they were attached at the bottom to the beds and removing them would probably make quite a bit of noise. As his eyes adjusted to the light, or rather lack of it, he noticed a large lump that seemed to be moving up and down. Ranma hesitated for only a moment before kicking the mass.Genma rose to his feet, not terribly pleased with his wake up call. He was lucky; the amazons apparently hadn't thought that two cursed individuals would be traveling together. They hadn't even checked if he was a real panda or not. He nodded to his son and started scribbling on the dirt floor. "Get some rest; if we are to get out of here we will need to be well rested." Genma proceeded to flop over and go to sleep.

'Stupid pops. If we wait for the amazons to try to get us there is no way we can get out. It's not like they'll only send a couple a people, there will be enough to keep us here.'

Ranma started looking around again; if any thing could be used he needed to find it. He thought about trying to break out the bars, but gave that idea. The bars were set in the wall, which seemed to be made of stone or very hard brick. Eventually it was what he didn't see that gave him an idea. No where in the cell was there any kind of toilet.

He went up to the door, it was framed by tiny lines of pale moonlight, and listened to make sure there was a guard out side. Once he was certain he poked his father till he woke again and motioned for him to be quiet.

"Hey, you, the one outside. I need ta' go. Can you let me out?" There was a ling pause and Ranma realized the flaw in his plan. If the guard spoke no Japanese there was no way to trick her. For once Ranma was getting nervous. What if he couldn't get away? He wasn't sure how powerful the amazons were, but with his current body he couldn't lay a finger on Cologne. How was he supposed to escape now?

If he couldn't get out of here then he wouldn't be able to get to Nerima, he wouldn't be able to see Akane… No. He was Ranma Saotome and he didn't lose. He would see Akane again, and he would get out of here. Even if he had to fight every amazon and other martial artist between here and Nerima. No one would stand between him and his fiancée.

He began building ki for a blast to remove the door, and the rest of the wall, when he heard something. There was a popping sound on the other side of the door and it was soon followed by a thud. Ranma kneeled down to try to see what was happening through the slit under the door. Immediately he leaped back.

Ranma didn't have too much experience with weapons, especially not chemical ones, but he knew enough to be able tell when one was used in a smoke bomb. A thin rolling cloud came through the crack between the bottom of the door and the ground.

Ranma was momentarily worried the smoke would fill the room, but it dissipated almost immediately. Ranma was walking back to the door to try to contact the guard again when he heard a thumping sound. Suddenly the door exploded off its hinges and landed a foot or so back. Standing in the frame was a figure clothed in long white robes.

"Outsider, prepare to die!" That declaration was followed by the man throwing up his sleeves and,

"Mousse? Is that you?"

Mousse dropped his arms and his raised his eyebrows. "How do you my name?" Mousse (fortunately) cut off Ranmas explanation with one of his own. "I see, it must have been Shampoo. She told you that she is too devoted to someone when you tried to force yourself on her. You asked for the name of her love and it was obviously mine. Oh Shampoo! I am coming to you!"

"Ah, weren't you gunna' fight me or somethin'?"

"Oh right. Prepare to die… um what's your name? I can't really announce my vengeance upon you without knowing your name."

"Hold on, you got no reason to 'declare your vengeance' on me in the first place."

"What do you mean? You are the one who is to be wed to my love. That is more than reason enough."

"I'm only her fiancée because I had no choice. It ain't like I love her or nutthin'. So how about I make a deal with you."

"Me? Make a deal with you? Why, when I can just kill you here and now and still have my Shampoo?"

"Well, uh," Ranma stuttered for a moment, it wasn't that he was afraid. He was confident that he could defeat Mousse if he had to. It was that that wasn't what he wanted. He just wanted to get out of here, and if Mousse was his friend when he left then all the better.

Ranma had still not decided on a course of action when one was chosen for him. A large, hairy paw swung down and made contact with the head of the master of the hidden weapons. His head then came into contact with the floor. Genma signaled Ranma that it was time to go and they both fled into the night.

Shampoo was more than a bit angry when she found Mousse instead of her husband the next morning. Her mood was not improved when he finally came to and started off on a rant about how that outsider wasn't a real man, and was a coward. She soon left a pummeled Mousse and headed to her home to pack for travel.

Back to the present…

Ranma was woken from his daydream by his foot impacting something odd. He felt around for a moment before he realized it was sand. He looked up and saw a beach in front of him. This was it! Japan! He was almost home! Not hearing his fathers protest Ranma started for Nerima at full speed.

Genma sighed as he headed through the rain to the Tendo dojo. He had warned Ranma that he would wear him self out. Running like that after three days at sea, huh, what kind of a martial artist would make such a foolish mistake? Ah here it was now.

Ranma woke being carried by his, currently panda, father. The rain water had soaked through his gi and its sudden stop didn't help to warm him any. It was only then that he realized where (s)he was.

In a moment Ranma was on his feet and looking forward. He saw Nabiki, and that alone would have been enough for him to realize he was home. Then he saw someone behind her and his jaw dropped. Kasumi was alive again (or was it still?). And that sent him flying. Then his heart all but stopped. Footsteps were coming up behind the two girls who were staring silently at their strange guests.

Soun was immediately visibly, being taller than his daughters, but the other person was hidden. It didn't matter. Ranma would have known those steps anywhere. And then he saw her…

TO BE CONTINUED…

He he he. Sorry I couldn't resist making that a cliffhanger. I know, I know I'm a jerk.


	5. At First Impressions

A Second Chance Ch. 5

At First Impressions

Hey everyone! Sorry its been so long since I last updated, but school work has been kind of piling up, so I didn't have a lot of time. That and hanging out with my friends took up a lot of my free time so I didn't get a chance to write for a while. Well, on with the show.

The rain had been falling in Nerima for almost two hours. It wasn't the kind of to drive people indoors, not very hard or cold. But now and then there would come sudden downpours that could drench those unlucky enough to be caught in them. It was during one of these downpours that Soun Tendo called his three daughters together for a family meeting. As they sat at the table he tried to decide the best way to proceed. Hmm, well the direct rout had always worked before.

"Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, there is an important matter I have to discuss with you. An old friend of mine named Genma Saotome is bringing his son here. He will become fiancée to one of you." The second he saw Akanes expression Soun decided he would have been better off with another tactic.

"Fiancée?"

"Yes the son of a very good friend of mine. The son's name is Ranma Saotome. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this training center then the Tendo family legacy would be secure."

"Wait a minute! Don't **we **have some say in who we marry?"

To his surprise it was Kasumi and not Nabiki who next spoke up. "Akane's right daddy. We've never even met Ranma."

"That's easily fixed."

Soun talked for a bit longer, but Akane tuned most of it out. She was thinking intently about how she would hurt her father for this. And what to do to this Ranma if… No when he tried something. 'After all,' she reminded herself, 'If all the boys in Nerima were perverts why shouldn't he be?'

She briefly considered giving this Ranma a chance to prove himself, and was about to discard that thought when she changed her mind. After all, the guys at school only got really bad after that speech. So maybe this outsider who had been to China deserved a chance.

Akane's line of thought was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Immediately Kasumi went out to greet the new guests. Nabiki followed her after a moment, intent on sizing up this new martial artist. Akane sighed slightly and followed with her father. Well she might as well get off to a good start with this boy; it seemed no matter what happened he would be here for quite a while.

Much to Akanes surprise her oldest sister wasn't introducing her self or offering tea to the guests. Rather her and Nabiki seemed to be frozen in place. When Akane looked beyond them she realized why. There was a panda standing in their house. She was so distracted by this oddity she didn't even notice the pigtailed martial artist standing in front of it.

There she was. Akane. And what was more she was alive. It was almost too much to bear. He felt his heart rise and his body suddenly seemed weightless. He had to think of something to say to her. Something suave and cool. Something that would make her choose him as a fiancée. This time it would be her choice. That much he had decided.

However it seemed his body had other thoughts. Before he could even begin to think up something to say he was already moving. Any normal person would have seen only a red blur. In the next instant he was embracing her.

"Akane… you're ok." He spoke in barley a whisper. Far too quiet for the others in the room to hear.

All other thought melted away. She was there. He was home. What could go wrong?

A swift blow to the head with a mallet answered his question. And even the brief moment of pain he felt before he was unconscious only serve to make the moment better. Sure it hurt, but it was a familiar pain. And as long as she could hit him, he knew Akane was alright. He would have wondered if getting this much joy from pain made him a masochist, but he was already unconscious.

Meanwhile in China…

Ryoga surveyed the clearing around him. The remains of boulders made the place vaguely resemble a garden of stones. The trees on the edge of the, now rather ugly, area were pockmarked with gashes from flying stones and holes where fragments imbedded themselves.

If Ryoga had ever been more sore in his life he could not remember it. The training he had been put through had given him burses over most of the front of his body. However he failed too see how this new technique would help him to defeated Ranma.

Not for the first time his curiosity got the better of him. "Hey, Sensei. Just exactly what good is this technique? After all it can't shatter anything but stone, and Ranma probably won't just stand there waiting for me to hit him with shrapnel."

The woman who had been his teacher for almost a week sighed. "Just keep practicing." She wondered if this boy had what it took to use the next skill she would teach him. She had planned to see just how deep his hatred of this Ranma went, but it was going on a week and he had told her was that he needed to get revenge for an insult to his honor.

On the spot she decided it was time for him to move on. After all he had more or less mastered the 'breaking point.' That and the fact that patience was not one of her strong suites prompted her to move on in his training.

"Alright Ryoga. It's time for the other half of your training. Now, what do you know about manipulating ki?"

Ranma awoke with Kasumi looking down at him. He noticed Nabiki was there too, but she seemed to be mostly ignoring him.

"Oh good, your awake. I'm sorry for Akane's actions, but, well, what you did was a bit of a shock to all of us. I guess that's just how Akane handles surprises like, well, like that."

All Ranma could do was blink for a moment. The sensation that this was nothing but another dream slowly wore away. Then a new feeling hit him. He barely had the willpower to stop him from jumping up and embracing Kasumi and even Nabiki. It was impossible to not let a look of joy cover his face. They were alright.

Sure, he knew that that Shiro guy had told him they would be. And he knew that it was before any big disaster happened so they had no reason to not be there. But there is a big difference between knowing something like that and being able to see it. He noticed Nabiki looking at him like he was crazy. Even Kasumi's smile had a rather strained look to it. It took far longer than he thought it would to get his face back to normal.

"Um, that's alright. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. I guess she reminded me of someone."

"Oh." Kasumi's voice didn't give away a hint of disbelief. "Well, I can appreciate that you wish to carry out your fathers wishes, but I'm afraid it may be impossible. You see, Akane may not be too fond of boys, but she isn't like… that."

Ranma just looked blankly at her for a moment. It took him a bit to figure out what she was talking about. "Wha… Oh no. No no no no. I'm not a girl. I'm a guy!"

Nabiki's expression was even stronger. Kasumi seemed a bit socked, but her eternal calm took over. "I'm not sure what your father has been telling you out on that training trip, but boys and girls are different. You see,"

"I know!" Ranma doubted his face could be any redder. "I know all that. I mean that I am really a guy. I got cursed at a training ground I China, now whenever I get splashed with cold water I turn into a girl. Hot water can turn me back to a boy. But only till next time." Ranma wondered why he had added that last part on.

Kasumi blinked a few times and Nabiki stood up. "Well sis, why don't you watch Ranma here for a second. I'm going to go call the mental… I mean call for takeout."

"Hey I ain't crazy! And I can prove it! Just get me some hot water"

As Ranma defended his sanity a call came from the main room. "Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, come here please."

"You too boy"

In a few moments the two families were around the table with a kettle of hot water in the center. For a moment they all wondered who would speak. The silence was broken by Soun.

"This man is my old friend Genma Saotome. And that girl is his son Ranma. It seems they were cursed in a training accident in China."

"Accident? You leading us to Jusenkyo because you couldn't read Chinese is supposed to be an accident?"

"You Shame me boy! Were you not ready to give up your life? The path of a martial artist is a dangerous one. If,"

A splash of water from, um somewhere, silenced Genma as he turned into a panda. Ranma reached across the table and grabbed the kettle. His voice changed as he said, "My life yes, my manhood is another story."

There was about to be another sparing match in the house when Soun put his arm around Ranma.

"Well then, your predicament isn't so bad after all. Kasumi, 19 my oldest daughter, Nabiki, 17 my middle daughter, Akane, 16 my youngest daughter, pick one and she will be your fiancée."

Quickly Kasumi and Nabiki surrounded Akane. "She's the one you want."

"Yes defiantly"

"Hey, wait a second! Why dose it have to be me?"

"Well you hate boys right? Then you're lucky. Ranma is a girl half the time"

"But, but,"

Ranma watched the exchange with some interest. It was odd to see just how this would have gone. The warning about changing the world came into his head again but Ranma just brushed it off, after all what could this hurt? Maybe he could make his world a bit better.

"Um, Akane, uh well, if you don't mind, um, well, I wouldn't mind being your,

"You be quiet, pervert!"

"Pervert? What did I do this time?"

"This time? Saotome, what kind of training did you put this boy through? Was it something _he _would do?"

"No of course not Tendo."

"You grabbed me you pervert. Did you think I would already forget?"

"Wait a second, I was just…" Ranma was stuck. He couldn't say he was relived to see she was alright, Kasumi and Nabiki already thought he was a bit off, and that would make them sure of it. There was no way she would believe that he had come from the future. There was nothing he could say. Or was there?

"You were just, what?"

"Well, you see, you remind me of someone. And for some reason I couldn't stop myself." He debated saying he was sorry, but his ego quickly vetoed that. Off to the side Soun started interrogating Genma about Ranmas past, and any girlfriends that might be in it. Ranma, however, hardly noticed. All his attention was focused on the long haired girl in front of him. She had to believe it. It was the truth after all, more of less. He began to think if he thought hard enough that she would believe him, then she really would.

Akane looked at him with a curious expression. Was he being serious? Probably not. He was probably just another pervert… No, she had promised to try to trust this Ranma, even if he didn't deserve it. Wait a second, he had already proved that he didn't deserve her trust, and now he was comparing her to some past girlfriend? She didn't think so.

"Don't worry Akane," She the girl in question turned to her left to look at her oldest sister. "I'm sure Ranma will forget about the other girl. You are his fiancée after all, so if you just have a little patience he will certainly get over her."

"Yeah, she's right sis." It looked like Nabiki agreed.

Was that what they thought she worried about? Huh, she wasn't some fragile little girly girl who would fall apart at such a thing. I mean come on, she had just met the guy, and it wasn't her idea to be his fiancée. And she especially wouldn't be worried about a pervert like this Ranma."

"Wait a second. I'm not,"

"They are right Akane, trust your sisters. Ranma will doubtlessly become enamored with you, just give him some time."

"I uh, I really wish you wouldn't talk about me like I'm not here."

"But, I…" Akane let out a long sigh. "Alright, I guess I can give Ranma another chance."

"Hurray!"

"Great."

"Oh good. Oh my, I'm afraid I don't have the proper ingredients for a meal to welcome our guests. Hmm, Akane could you go to the market and get some for me."

"Aw, I wanted to practice a little. Well, alright I'll go."

Soun and Genma exchanged a short look; they couldn't let this opportunity pass them up.

"Ranma, my boy. I want you to go with Akane. After all, this city is unfamiliar to you. You should take this chance to get to know it better. A Martial Artist is always familiar with the terrain around his home."

"Yes," Soun chimed in. "I give you my permission to accompany Akane."

"What? I can do this fine on my own! I don't need any help." Akane looked over at Ranma, preparing to tell him to stay, by any means necessary, when something struck her. He seemed happy; there was actually a smile on his face. It seemed like he really wanted to go with her. 'Hmm, there doesn't seem to be anything too perverted about him, at the moment, so I guess there is no harm in letting him come.'

"Alright Ranma, if you want to tag along you can." Akane felt a need to let him know that she wasn't letting him come along because she would have any trouble if she did it herself. "Just don't slow me down."

Ranma almost laughed, wisely he stopped himself.

"Alright, I'll go with you.'

"Well then, let's go."

Amazingly, aside from Akane being surprised at how easily Ranma was able to keep up with her, it was an uneventful trip. There were no guys, or girls, or animals chasing Ranma. He felt a sense of absolute ease come over him. As they were returning they stopped to sit by a tree and rest for a moment. Akane had been so determined to outrun Ranma she had worn herself out. The fact that she insisted on carrying all the groceries herself didn't help.

"So, you went to China, what was that like?"

Ranma was more than a little surprised. He couldn't remember one time Akane and he had had a normal conversation. Usually it was her yelling at him, or they were discussing tactics, or filling each other in on what had happened in the middle of a crisis. He was amazed, as they talked about his experiences he actually got her to smile, and once even laugh. How could he have missed out on this? They had been together for nearly two years. Two years! How was it even possible for him not to know what this felt like?

"Is there something you really regret about going to China? Aside from your curse I mean."

"Shampoo." The word left Ranma's mouth before he could stop it. Damn, why did he have to say that? Now she would get mad and punt him to the next town. She had gotten mad the last time she found out about Shampoo, he didn't expect this time to be any different.

"What? Um, did you, uh, get a bad bottle of… shampoo?"

"No, Shampoo is an amazon from a tribe near Jusenkyo. I beat her and she has been after me since,"

"You What!? You beat a girl? Why I'll,"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! I meant I beat her in a fight. It's kind of a long story, but basically me and pops screwed up and I had to fight Shampoo. After I beat her she said that I was part of her tribe, then she found out I was actually a guy."

"Hold on, why were you wandering around China as a girl?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to get hot water out in the middle of the wilderness? It's not like I can stop and build a fire every time I get splashed."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"Anyway, when she found out I was a guy, well, she kinda mumble, mumble, mumble . And so I tried to leave, they threw me and pops in a cell, and thanks to an idiot named Mousse we got out."

"What happened when she found out you were a guy? It was a bit hard to hear."

"Um, well, you see," Ranma made a conscience effort to stop rubbing the back of his head as soon as he noticed Akane staring at it. "If a woman in the Amazon tribe is defeated by another woman from outside the tribe she has to chase her down and kill her, or if it is a tie she can make the woman her amazon sister. But if a guy beats an amazon she has to, um, she has to, marry him."

"What!? You have an amazon chasing you around trying to marry you?" Ranma knew where this was going. He decided to cut it off.

"It's not like I want her to. She just won't stop." Akane was about accuse him of being a two timing pervert, but something stopped her. Ranma actually looked sincere when he said that. And it was almost impossible to hear, but she could swear he sighed after he said it.

"Oh, well. I'm sure she won't find you here. Anyway let's get back so Kasumi can start dinner."

The sun was setting as Ranma and Akane returned, they hadn't realized how long they were talking. Ranma handed the bags he was carrying back to Akane.

"I think I'm gunna' go practice for a while. See you later." He almost stayed to hear her ask him to spar with her, but he didn't want to get in a fight after such a nice day. As he went through his kata he found himself smiling.

Meanwhile in China…

"Good. Now you are ready to have your vengeance against Ranma."

The clearing that had been a wasteland had taken a turn for the worse. There wasn't an identifiable hunk of rubble anywhere. Boulders that had been pebbles were now sand. The grass which covered most of the ground was gone and there were only deep furrows in its place.

"Wait! I wanted to beat Ranma. This will kill him! I am a martial artist, not a murderer."

"So, you still are not completely devoted, eh? Well then there is one last part of your training to complete."

"What would that be?"

"Think of it as a baptism. Here come with me."

Ryoga followed the woman thru the forest. All around him there were stalks of bamboo that were cut short. Some were split into several long strands which leaned out from the center of the plant. He had been down this path many times in the past weeks, but never once had he thought of it as dark or ominous. At least not until now. He couldn't describe it, but there was something about the forest that seemed to be telling him to turn back. Huh, listen to that! Ryoga Hibiki was not afraid of anything! A few odd trees wouldn't stop him from training.

As they went deeper there became fewer and fewer damaged bamboo shoots until the forest around him was not damaged at all. But the feeling of dread still filled Ryoga.

"Here we are. This is the final part of your training. All you have to do is dive in here and you will be prepared."

Before him was a pool of water. It seemed fairly deep, though it was only about two meters wide. The edges of the pool were stripped of all vegetation, only the rocks remained and they seemed like teeth or claws. But it was not into the spring that the claws faced, but rather it seemed that they were reaching towards each other.

"Well, are you ready, of should I push you in. This is no time to be having second thoughts"

Ryoga just grunted and dove into the pool head first.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	6. At School

A Second Chance #6

At School

Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait. Between school, work, friends and other stuff I haven't had much time for writing. Fortunately spring break is coming up and I hope to be able to writ more then. Once more: Don't own 'em.

Ranma found it almost impossible to get to sleep that night. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling that he had seen almost every day for two years. The responsible part of his mind kept reminding him that tomorrow was his first day of school and he really should get to sleep, but though he was tired he found it almost impossible to close his eyes.

His thoughts seemed to form one continuous loop. It started with him looking at something in the room that was familiar, which meant just about anything in the room. Then he would wonder if all that had happened had been a dream. After all everything here was the same. He still heard his fathers loud snoring beside him, the streetlight outside was still flickering on and off, occasionally turning the soft shadows of the beams above him longer and darker, even the simple blanket covering him was exactly like it was before, minus a bit of wear. Then he would see something that proved him wrong, the fact that his cloths were still in his travel pack of the absence or one of the few trinkets that he had picked up in his journeys after arriving here. That triggered the memory of what had happened to Akane and it took him a few moments to relax and convince himself that she was alright now and he could protect her. But his mind wouldn't let him rest. What if something he had done had changed the world already? What if something happened to Akane tonight? Should he check on her? More than once he found himself on his feet and half way to the window before he changed his mind. After all, if anyone, or, since Ranma seemed to be a magnet for all kinds of problems, anything managed to get in the house he would hear it. And if something tried to break into Akanes room directly the breaking window would wake him up.

Currently Ranma was just regaining composure after going through the events of a few weeks ago, or a few years from now depending on how you look at it. Once again he found himself on his feet and at the window. He looked up at the night sky; the stars were out in number since there were no longer any clouds blocking the sky. Ranma always enjoyed the way the air seemed clearer after rain, especially at night. Of course this was nothing compared to his night in the wilderness of China where the only light was from the moon. But still it was a nice night. And since he wasn't going to get any sleep anyway he might as well enjoy it. And if he happened to be near Akane's window as he sat on the roof, well he might as well peek in to make sure she was still there and in one piece, right?

The roof was still wet from the rain and Ranma immediately regretted not putting on some kind of foot covering. He felt a tingling run through his body from the feet up and sighed. Brushing a few arrant hairs out of his face Ranma gazed up. Not that he would admit this to anyone, ever, no matter what, but there were some good things about his girl form. One of those being that he was far more willing to gaze at the sky and just enjoy the wonder above him, or her as it may be.

Another was that it was far easier to go places undetected since his female form was smaller and weighed less. He especially appreciated that he made his way over to the roof over Akane's room. Silently he lowered himself down to where he could look in the window. His heart stopped. She wasn't there. For a second he couldn't even breathe, he had done it! Something he had changed had gone wrong and taken Akane from him again. In half an instant he was standing in her room, beside her bed. He tore the blanket off and confirmed his worst fears; she wasn't just under the covers. She was really gone. The door handle was almost in his hands when he heard it starting to turn.

Akane quietly filled the glass in her hand with water from the sink. She took a healthy drink and exhaled loudly. What was it about nighttime that made her so thirsty? She would have wondered about this as she headed up the stairs towards her room if it hadn't been two thirty in the morning. Her brain didn't function so well at that particular time as was evident by how difficult it had been to get a drink. First she had missed the door to the kitchen all together, then she had had trouble getting her glass under the faucet, and now she was fairly certain she was holding a glass of hot water. But all these thoughts were pushed aside as she gripped the handle of her door. All she could think about was how good it would feel to climb back in bed and pull up the covers for a few more hours of sleep.

She turned her hand and walked into her room. Something felt a bit strange, it seemed too cold, but that only encouraged her to head towards her bed that much faster. She didn't bother sitting on the side of the bed to get in but rather flopped in face first and stretched her arm down to grip her blanket. It took her a moment to realize her hand wasn't meeting with anything. Groaning internally Akane reached as far as she could and then gave up and turned her head. The realization that she was the only thing on her bed shook the sleep from her. Had she knocked the blanket on the floor? No, she didn't think so. A quick observation of her surroundings told her that the blanket in question was on the opposite side of her room. It also told her that the window was open as was her door. This time the groan was out loud as she picked herself up from the bed. She closed the window and headed towards the blanket. She gripped it in one hand and pushed the door with the other. She was only inches away from her bed when she realized the door hadn't shut. Sighing deeply she headed towards it once again.

She reached out and gently pulled on the handle. A slight frown formed on her face. The door gave a little bit but then stopped. She pulled harder, but the same thing happened. Now, normally Akane would look behind the door to see if it was caught on something. Unfortunately for the door she was tired and irritable, so instead she tightened her grip and pulled harder, and harder, and harder. Soon the grip and the forces that were pulling it in either direction were too much for the handle.

Ranma found himself stumbling backwards towards the wall with one half of Akane's doorknob in his hand. The thud he made hitting the wall was coincidentally timed the same as the moment his heart stopped. Until now he was hoping to use Umi-Sen Ken to sneak out. However since Akane had certainly heard him that was out of the question. Even if he did make it Akane would figure it was either him or his father and that wouldn't work out for him.

Ranma sighed internally; he was a man, most of the time, so it was time to face the music. He stepped out from behind the door and started babbling an excuse; he couldn't bring himself to apologies, when he noticed Akane wasn't saying anything, or hitting him with a mallet. He opened his eyes just enough to see whether he was about to go flying again. Akane was on the floor in front of him with her eyes closed. Ranma was beside her and started shaking her gently.

"Come on Akane, wake up. Please wake up."

The moments seemed to stretch on for hours and Ranma felt his heart beating faster and faster. He kept repeating the same line over and over as if saying it enough would make her open her eyes. The feeling of relief that washed over Ranma when she did was rather short lived.

"Ugh, wha… Hey what are you doing in my room? Henti!! Get off of my!"

The mallet blow sent Ranma almost straight up. And though it wasn't quite as powerful as it should have been it immediately calmed him. He landed on the roof almost over his room.

Ranma slipped in the window and then into bed. He was asleep before… And as he slept no nightmares plagued him.

Genma woke him up that morning. Surprisingly enough this didn't involve tossing him out the window or dousing him with cold water. This time he just whacked him in the head.

"Hey! What'd ya' do that for?"

"Ranma it is past time to wake up. If I allowed you to sleep any longer you would have been late to school. Oh I've raised such a lazy son. Lounging around all day!"

Ranma chose to ignore his father's current rant. Instead he decided whether or not he should complain about going to school. He knew he would end up going, but for appearances sake he might as well go against it.

"Aw, come on pop. I don't need ta' go ta' school. All that stuff is useless for a martial artist anyway."

"Ranma," Genma didn't get to finish his sentence as there was a gentle knocking on their door. Kasumi's voice could be heard on the other side.

"Mr. Saotome, Ranma, breakfast is ready. If you don't eat now you will be late for school."

"Thank you Kasumi." Genma said loudly. Then in a quieter voice to Ranma, "This is your book bag. You will need it today at school."

Ranma sighed deeply but decided not to argue anymore. Genma smiled slightly as he and Ranma rose to their feet. They headed down to the dining room for breakfast. Just before Ranma arrived at his usual seat he glanced to his right. Kasumi was coming through the door between the dining room and kitchen. For a split second Ranma was sure the wall was going to implode in again. The window would shatter and….Kasumi would… would…

"Are you alright Ranma?"

"Perhaps we engaged him to the wrong one, eh Tendo?"

Ranma hadn't noticed that he was staring right at Kasumi. He just kept seeing her face cut up and blood dropping down her apron. When he was jolted back to the present he noticed that she was currently blushing under his open stare.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I'm still half asleep."

"Oh. Well you had better hurry Ranma. School starts in about half an hour, and it may be hard for you to find it on your own."

"What?" Ranma quickly surveyed the room around him. "Where's Akane?"

"She headed off a few minutes ago. I told her to wait for you but she wouldn't. She seemed rather angry about something. Maybe something happened last night."

Ranma had been around Kasumi long enough to know that she knew more than she was saying. He didn't know if Akane had told her about what happened last night but he hoped not. He liked Kasumi and he didn't want her to think he was a pervert. But he really couldn't worry about that now. Now he had to get to school. Sure, Akane was alright going up against all the boys before, but it might be different this time. What if…

Ranma almost laughed at himself. He wasn't even in Nerima before yesterday, and he hadn't even talked to anyone outside the Tendo house hold. There was no way Akane would be defeated this time. His slight smile broke into a long yawn. He had only gotten about four hours of sleep last night, and before that he had had only a few hours of unconsciousness since he and his father had crossed over from China. Oh well, he could catch up in school. At least all those classes were good for something.

Ranma ate quickly and had his daily battle with his father to see who would get to eat Ranma's breakfast. His bowl empty, Ranma stood up, said his goodbyes and headed out. It wasn't necessary to look at the map Kasumi had drawn him, since he knew the way, but was happy for the gesture. He found himself walking along the fence he had taken to school over and over. Looking up at the sky Ranma lost himself in contemplation.

'I wonder how long Akane will stay mad about last night. Maybe I should get her some flowers or somthin' to make it up to her. Hold on a second, why should I apologize? After all I was just worried about her. It ain't my fault she had to go and overreact like that before I could explain my self. She's always gettin' the wrong idea.'

The clouds above Ranma drifted slowly in the breeze. They almost seemed like faces staring down at him. They would appear, glance sadly downward, and vanish again as the winds pushed them. Ranma slowed until he was almost at a stop.

Sigh. 'Maybe I should say I'm sorry. I mean it ain't really her fault I overreacted like that. And what was she supposed to think, me hiding in her room and all. She was probably more surprised than anything anyway; I mean she barely even hit me. Come to think of it, she seemed stronger last time around. Even if it was pretty late she should have had more than that. Could she be…? Nah, I'm probably just imagining things. Yeah, that it, she's fine it's all in my head.

Ranma barely noticed that he was now moving at nearly his full speed along the rail.

Dodge, dodge, strike. Dodge, dodge, strike. Dodge, block, block, strike. Akane was already breathing hard. It was enough that she had to deal with all those other jerks every day before school, but Kuno too? And today he seemed to be much better than he usually was. He was faster and his blows were harder to block. Their battle had already gone on twice as long as usual and it showed no signs of stopping. She was getting a bit worried, soon school would be starting and it had never been anywhere near this difficult to take Kuno out. It seemed like her hits weren't as effective as they had always been.

"I fear my fair flower is starting to lose the sharpness of her thorns. You seem to not be taking this fight as seriously as before. Dose this mean you wish to date with me and are attempting to lose with honor? Yes that must be it, why elseMumph!" Kuno was cut off by a fist trying its hardest to lodge his teeth in the back of his skull.

'Why? Why is this so hard? What is different this time?' Akane went back through the events since her last fight with Kuno. She had stuck with her routine until Ranma showed up. Humph, that pervert. He had seemed so nice yesterday and then she had caught him sneaking into her room. Henti! Baka!

As she wove between Kunos strikes Akane was bothered by a tiny voice in the back of her head. She had promised to give Ranma a chance hadn't she? Didn't that mean she should… Wait a second! She had given him a chance and he had snuck into her room in the middle of the night. Admitted he had seemed pretty shaken up at the time, but still… Well he didn't know the house that well. Was it possible he had gone in the wrong room? After all it was the middle of the night and she had had enough trouble navigating, and she lived there her entire life. Maybe Ranma deserved one more chance…

Then it struck her. Ranma had been in her room in the middle of the night. It took her hours to fall back to sleep after that. That was what was different, Kuno wasn't better, she was tired.

That train of thought had distracted her from the matter at hand. She looked up just in time to see a boken coming toward her head. Her hands were out to give her balance while dodging so she couldn't block and it was too close to evade. Her eyes closed aginst her will. She wasn't really afraid of Kuno hitting her hard, but it was a blow that would make him the winner. Even if she didn't have to date him for winning it was humiliating to be defeated by a boy. A sound just in front of her made her open her eyes and she couldn't believe the sight before her.

Ranma was running along the fence all out now. Not that he was worried about Akane at all mind you. It was that he was… late for school. Yeah that was it. If he was late he would have to hold pails and that would cut into the time he would get to sleep in class. It wasn't about Akane at all.

He found that he was getting winded. Normally a run like this was nothing to Ranma, even at this point. However with the lack of sleep it was becoming quite difficult. It was also getting harder to keep his balance, but he shrugged it off.

He was getting close now and could see the school wall a bock or so ahead. His relief at having arrived was quickly gone. The entire student body was still standing around watching something happening in front of the school. A few super human leaps brought him to the wall. When he got there he froze. He saw Akane if a fighting position, which he expected, and seeming quite tired, which he hadn't. But it was what he had seen just beyond her that had stopped him cold. A black sword was swinging down towards her head.

The tiredness fell away from Ranma and in an instant he was moving again. He watched as the weapon came closer to Akane. The only thought that ran through his mind was that this time he wouldn't be so powerless. Most of the other kids would describe what they saw as a blur. Ranma closed on Kuno with impossible speed. The impact of his fist sent the would-be samurai flying into a tree which such force that it cracked the trunk.

"No one's gunna hurt her! You hear me! She's my Fiancée and no one will hurt her!"

The student body looked on in awe. No one had been able to take Kuno out so easy. The boken wielding teen was currently unconscious, with an almost destroyed tree behind him. Some were surprised that Kuno was still breathing. This amazement almost distracted them from Ranma's declaration. Almost. Immediately there were two groups of students, the ones with money gathered around Nabiki and those without around Akane and Ranma. The centers of attention were barging or stammering, respectively, when the bell rang.

The groups had no desire to break up, but the threat of carrying buckets was more of a motivation than the latest drama in the Tendo home. After the chaos of moving bodies was out of the courtyard three figures remained. Two were standing next to each other and one was slumped down on the ground against a tree.

Akane was too shocked to say anything. Had Ranma actually said that? Had he really promised to protect her? And in front of all these people? And he even said she was his fiancée! That seemed so romanti… Hold on! She was a daughter of the Tendo Dojo! She didn't need others protecting her! And it was Ranma's fault she didn't beat Kuno with ease. It was time to give his a piece of her mind.

"Are you okay Akane?"

The look on his face stopped her from yelling at him. He seemed almost scared. His eyes were large and childlike and his eyebrows were squeezed together in worry.

"I, yeah I'm fine. Thanks."

That stopped both of them.

'What? What did I just say? Feh, he saves me once and gives me a weepy look and suddenly I start acting like this? It's all his fault for keeping her up, the tiredness must be getting to her.

'What? What did she just say? Is that really Akane? Uh oh, looks like she's getting angry.' It was now or never for the speech he had worked up.

"Uh, listen Akane. I'm really sorry about last night. I, well I was…"

"Oh, it's okay Ranma, I understand."

"You, you do?"

"Sure, the house is pretty big; sometimes I even get the wrong door."

"Oh heh, um yeah."

Well we better get inside."

"Sure"

As Ranma and Akane held pails outside the class room they looked out the window. The brilliantly white clouds seemed to be smiling down at the residents of Nerima.

Meanwhile in China…

Ryoga ran towards the sea. The branches that snatched at his face weren't even felt. All that ran through his mind was his new mission. He headed straight east and as he came to the shore he didn't even slow down. The water churned under his powerful arms and legs propelling him toward Japan.

A little ways back a woman watching the lost boy started to laugh.

"Maybe this will be worth watching after all."

She moved to the docks and watched the ships come in. Eventually a small cruise ship came in and docked. Families got off and looked at the port shops and restaurants. She watched until one woman who seemed to be alone got off and went to a nearby deli. The woman her target closely until she headed into a public rest room. She entered right after her, closing the door behind her. A few moments later she reemerged with a different outfit and a pass card. Taking out a handkerchief she wiped off a spot on her hand she had missed. She tucked the red stained cloth in her purse and headed for the boats on ramp.

To Be Continued…


	7. At Friends, or at Enemies I

A Second Chance CH. 7

At Friends, or at Enemies

Hey Everybody, once again sorry bout the delay. I'm going to try to write more frequently. Anyway enjoy. Oh, and I don't owm them.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so, and, and just no."

"Come on Ranma, why won't you spar with me?"

"I am sparing with you."

"No, you're just dodging. I want you to really spar with me."  
"Sorry, but I don't hit girls, no matter how tomboyish they may be."

"What?!?"

Akane let out a less than feminine growl and started attacking Ranma with twice the effort. Unfortunately this meant about half the likelihood of her hitting him. Ranma sighed internally. He really did want Akane to get better, but he wouldn't train her because he couldn't hit her, and the other choices were less than appealing. There was no way she would consent to go to a regular dojo, and she was too goods to gain any real benefit from the experience anyway, unless he could find someone who could teach her patience. Her father must have been pretty skilled, but he hadn't fought in years, and from what he knew he didn't even practice any more. There was no way he would let his father teach her. Maybe when Ryoga showed up he could help her, but Ranma didn't really want Ryoga getting that close to his fiancée. This time his sigh was out loud.

"What was that? Are you making fun of me?"

Ranma realized that he had made a mistake in not stifling that sigh. He knew that it wasn't to insult Akane, but that was the way she saw it. And Ranma also knew that she wasn't likely to think too rationally at this point. Plus he wasn't nearly good enough to think up something to say to pacify her that wouldn't end up with him having both his feet in his mouth. This caused him to sigh again. Big Mistake.

"Ranma you jerk!"

Once again the seemingly mystic mallet appeared in Akane's hands. This time it wasn't a trip to the stars that was in store for Ranma, but rather a close inspection of the floor and then the foundation, and possibly even the top few layers of soil under the dojo.

Fortunately for Ranma Akane was feeling merciful today and he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Kasumi sighed internally as she walked to Ranma and Genma's room. The boy had been here for almost two weeks now and as far as she could tell her sister was only getting more violent towards him. She couldn't understand it; things had been going so well in the beginning, then a few days ago everything had started to fall apart. The only thing she remembered as happening on the day in question was Akane asking Ranma to spar with her. Ranma had agreed, which at first worried Kasumi greatly. Suppose he hurt Akane, or tried to do something inappropriate during the fight, not that that second one was much of a concern, after all from what she had seen of Ranma he was basically a good kid. However that concern was abated when Akane came back in about half an hour later. She seemed quite angry, and when Kasumi asked her about it all she would say was that Ranma wouldn't really spar with her. She had later gotten the whole story from Ranma, and was even more relived, even if she did find it a tad chauvinistic, after all although Akane was a girl she was also a martial artist.

She slid open the door to Ranma's room and found him right where his father had dropped him on his futon. She called his name a few times then walked up and shook him for a moment; it was amazing how soundly Ranma could sleep. Just as she was about to find some his father, who always managed to get the teen out of bed Kasumi heard Ranma start to stir. She turned and found he was still asleep, but an unbelievably anxious look had come over his face. He started mumbling in his sleep. At first what he said was faint, but gradually it got louder.

"Please Tofu, you gotta' help her. I know you can. No. no she can't be…"

Ranma seemed about to burst into tears. His breathing got shallower and he seemed to be trembling. Kasumi's first instinct was to embrace the teen, but she stopped herself. Maybe it would have done him some good, but if her sister happened to come in it would be terribly hard to explain. As she watched him he slowly started to relax. After what seemed like hours his face was calm again and he was once more breathing deep.

She was on her way down the staircase when something odd occurred to her. In the relatively short time Ranma had been here he had never, to her knowledge, met Dr. Tofu. As she reached the dining room the thought began to really trouble her. She brought the meal out from the kitchen and explained that Ranma was sleeping and she would save some for him if he awoke later that night.

There was the conversation that had become normal around their table; Akane talked about school, Genma and Soun discussed shogi, go, or their plans for Ranma and Akane, and Nabiki kept mostly to her self. However during a break in the conversation Kasumi spoke up. Akane I have some things I have to return to Dr. Tofu, I was wondering if tomorrow you could return them for me, and please take Ranma with you also. I think it would be good for him to meet the Doctor."

"Huh, a, well, I think it would probably be better if you took it Kasumi."

"Please Akane, besides you should introduce your fiancée to him, unless he has already met him."

"Just because our fathers engaged us doesn't mean"

"Please, Akane."

Sigh, "Well I guess I could take him tomorrow on the way home from school."

"Thank you, Akane."

So it appeared that Ranma had not met the doctor, at least not when Akane was around. However it was still possible that they had met before. Kasumi decided to see how much she could learn.

"By the way Mr. Saotome, have you and Ranma ever come to Nerima, before this time I mean?"

"Hmm? Oh, no we haven't. Most of our trip was in northern Japan and China. I came here once long ago to visit, but that was before any of you girls were born. Why do you ask, Kasumi?"

"Really! That means you must have met our mother. Could you tell us about her?"

Genma gave a short chuckle and launched into a long story about Soun, himself and their wives. Kasumi was thankful for Akane's unintentional interference. She didn't want to lie to Mr. Saotome and she also didn't want it to look like she was snooping around in his and Ranma's affairs. She listened to the story for a time, but gradually her mind started to wonder. How had Ranma known about Dr. Tofu? Had someone mentioned his name? She didn't think so, but of course it could have happened at school. Or could it be something else… but what?

Ranma woke up quite early in the morning. The moon was still high in the sky and the stars were mostly covered by clouds which were slowly blowing by. The first thing he noticed was the pain in his head. The memory of Akane bashing him came back and he sighed deeply. He started thinking about his dilemma of getting someone to train Akane. As his mind rolled around options he realized he was starving.

Making his way silently down to the kitchen Ranma uttered a silent appeal to the gods that Kasumi had saved him some dinner. As he opened the refrigerator he found his prayers answered. He took out some of the Oden that had been dinner that night and a little rice with it. He popped them both in the microwave and leaned on the counter to wait.

His mind was almost asleep again when he heard the footsteps coming sown the stairs. In an instant he was in a ready position, but he realized this was rather foolish as the person would most likely be a resident of the house. His realization was confirmed as Kasumi stepped into the kitchen in a long night gown.

"Oh, hello Ranma. I heard someone down here and I thought it would be you."

"Hey Kasumi. Sorry for waking you, I missed dinner so I got kinda' hungry"

"That alright. Please remember to clean up when you are done." Kasumi started to go but she stopped at the door. "By the way Ranma, I asked Akane to go to an old friend named Tofu's house. Would you mind going with her."

"Huh, oh, sure I'll go see the Doc. with Akane."

Kasumi stood still for a moment and then nodded slightly and headed towards the stairs. The microwave signaled it was time to eat and Ranma obeyed. He ate in silence then got up and looked at the clock. It was almost five in the morning. For a moment he considered going back to bed but instead he headed out to the dojo. After turning on the lights he headed for the center of the room and started some warm-up stretches. After a few moments he was doing basic katas, and then more complex ones, finally he ended up doing long strings of aerial kicks and punches. He gradually slowed his movements until he was once more standing in the center of the room. He waited until his breathing slowed back to normal and then glanced over to the clock on the wall.

He jumped up and nearly yelled. He had spent almost an hour practicing. He rushed in to the house and headed for his room. After grabbing a change of cloths he headed back down stairs to the bathroom all the while sighing to himself.

It wasn't that he was very worried that he would be late for school. He could eat on the way if all else failed. The problem was Akane. She went out for her morning runs and when she got back she liked to soak in the furo. With the mood she had been in lately Ranma was fairly certain what would happen if she wanted to take a bath and Ranma was taking too much time in the bathroom.

Ranma was just walking out of the changing room as Akane came in the front door. Now normally Ranma would have considered her mood and either avoided her or simply walked by. But something was nagging him. The normal procedure was that he would do something to make her mad and he would either wait her out or something would happen and he would need to save her. Either was they spent at the least a few hours, but usually a few days, angry with each other. Ranma didn't want that so he decided he would change it, after all what could it hurt to improve his world?

"Hey Akane."

"Humph." She barley even acknowledged him and kept walking by.

"Would you wait a second Akane?"

"What is it, Ranma?"

"Well, I umm."

"Well? What is it Ranma? I don't have all day."

"I wanted to…" What? Ranma wasn't going to apologize, after all nothing that happened was his fault. If only Akane would be reasonable. Why couldn't she understand that he didn't want to fight her, and not just because she was a girl. After all she was his fiancée, what happened if she was training with him? But then again, what if he didn't train her and something happened, wouldn't that be his fault too? Arggg, why did this have to be so complicated?

"Don't bug me if you don't have anything to say."

"No, wait, if…"

"If what Ranma?" It was clear that Akane was getting angry; Ranma decided ending this quickly was the best possible solution.

Ranma took a deep breath. "If nobody else will train you I guess, occasionally, I could show you a thing or two."

Akane was still and stared at Ranma for a moment and Ranma was ecstatic. He had said the right thing! Hah, chalk another one up for Ranma SaoWHAM! Ranma picked himself up from a hole in the floor as Akane walked away.

"Humph. I'm sure _someone_ will train me. And it won't be a jerk like you."

Ranma was dumbstruck. He was sure Akane would be overjoyed to train with him, what was her problem. The words she just said ran across his mind. He didn't notice anything so they ran across again. Then on the third lap he realized something; she was madder when she talked about finding someone to train her. But why?

This time his words came to mind. Oh, crap. How did he always make fun of her without noticing? He hadn't meant to say that no one would train with her, but rather that that no one was training with her. Again Ranma sighed. He decided to let her cool down for a while before trying to remedy the situation, besides that might give him enough time to think of something to say.

After a hurried breakfast, Ranma often wondered if there were any other kind, the pigtailed martial artist was off to school. From his path upon the fence he watched Akane walking. How could he apologies? If he brought up this morning he would probable get the mallet, if he talked about their sparing or training her he would either get the cold shoulder, or it would start another fight.

After a few blocks Ranma came to a conclusion. He would just come out and say he was sorry. If she asked why he would tell her, after all she couldn't be mad at him after he said he was sorry, right? He only hoped his warriors pride (read: ego) would allow him to.

"Hey Akane, Could you wait up a second."

"What is in now Ranma?" Her tone of voice made Ranma think twice about his plan. He really didn't want another aerial tour of Tokyo this early in the morning. Ranma swallowed and steeled himself.

"Akane, I'm, um well I'm sorry about earlier."

"What?"

"I, I said I'm sorry."

"Are you feeling alright Ranma?"

"What I can't even apologies now?"

"No I was just a bit surprised by it."

"Yeah, well I said it so can we let this drop now?"

"Well I,"

"Ranma Saotome. I challenge you."

Since the two were deep in conversation they hadn't noticed that they were about to pass thru the school gates. Ahead of them was a familiar figure wielding a boken.

"Hey Kuno. Where ya' been?"

"At our first meeting you landed a lucky blow on me. It put me in bed for these long weeks, but now I have returned and I, Tatewaki Kuno, challenge you."

"Sure Kuno, but class is about to start and I,"

"Silence fool. Honor is more important than education. And besides, there is something I wish to ascertain from our duel."

Ranma sighed once again. Today was shaping up to be a long one.


	8. At Friends, or at Enemies II

A Second Chance Ch. 8

At Friends, or at Enemies II

The screen separating the front of the limo from the back was currently down; Kuno watched the other cars on the road through the windshield. There was an older couple in a fancy sedan moving slowly and cautiously. Just behind them was a family of four in a mini-van, the father looking more and more annoyed by the slow pace. There were business men going to work and swing shift waiters and waitresses coming home. There had to be at least five hundred men, women, and children that his driver and he had passed on the way to school. He vaguely wondered if any of the people in those other cars could give him the answers he craved.

The last memory he had before waking up two days ago was of challenging Akane Tendo to a duel. He had been doing quite better than on his previous attempts, and was certain that this time he would have that date with her. Then, from out of nowhere, a blow like none he had ever felt. The strike was so powerful it had sent him flying, and with that he had lost consciousness.

When he woke up he was in his room at home, with a few pieces of medical beside him. He was sore and felt weak, but his head was strangely clear. He couldn't remember when he had last had such clarity in his mind. After lying in bed for a few moments, savoring the new sensation, he leaned himself up to a sitting position. It was an act he immediately regretted. His head felt like it would split and he was slightly nauseous. He quickly set him self back down.

After a moment of recovery his hand found a bell placed on a tray beside his bed. He shook it and was startled by how quickly his trusted servant arrived at his side.

"Ah Kuno-dono, you have finally awakened. This is truly a joyous day. Are you well, do you need anything?"

"Who?"

"I'm sorry Kuno-dono, but who do you mean?"

"Who was it? The one who struck me."

The attendant smiled lightly. "I thought you might be interested. I have been having some of our men tracking him since you were struck. He is a martial artist named Ranma Saotome, who has been in China and all around Japan. He is trained in a school called 'anything goes,' and has shown incredible skill. It appears he was cursed on one of his trips, and cold water turns him into a girl, while warm water returns him to normal,"

"Hold on, you're that he changes gender with water?" The skeptical look on Kuno's face was obvious.

"I know it sound foolish, but it is true." The look on Kuno's face didn't change. "I have seen it myself, m'lord."

Kuno let out a long breath. "Alright, I believe you. Continue."

"…Really, sir?" 'he did' "… did you say that you believed me?... Are you feeling all right?"

"What do you mean? You have been working for me since I was born; I have no reason to doubt you." The man looked at Kuno with a raised eyebrow for a few moments. Then he shrugged and continued his briefing.

"It appears that he is only a mediocre student, but he is an excellent martial artist and he was engaged to Akane Tendo. He has."

"WHAT?"

"He, um he has been on a training trip for over ten years, so,"

"No, not that."

"Oh, well it seems that their parents had an agreement to engage their children. They both trained under the same master. Thus far we haven't been able to track their master down."

Kuno was staring blankly down at his feet. Akane was engaged? How, how could that be? He had been obsessed with her since he had seen her, he had tried to date her for, well, he couldn't even remember how long. She had been his obsession. That was why he found it impossible to understand why he was so unfazed with her engagement.

Shouldn't he be horrified, or sad, or angry? Why was it that he didn't feel anything at all? It seemed like he had known that she would never really be his. But that couldn't be, why would he chase her for so long, and with such determination if he didn't' love her? And if he did love her why would he give up on her so easily?

Those thoughts were still going through his mind as he arrived at Furinkan High. And he was no closer to an answer. It was possible that the blow to the head had affected his feelings, but he didn't think that was the answer. Instead he was wondering if his mind had been damaged before and that blow had helped him. After all now he saw that the things he had done in his quest for Akane were a bit, well, crazy.

If there was a way to figure out if he was crazy, or had been crazy he couldn't think of it. After all, he was a Kuno; he couldn't just go see a shrink. Sighing to himself walked toward his first class. He was deep in thought when a voice from behind him brought him back to reality. It was Akane, and she was talking to a boy, who he figured was Ranma.

He didn't know why, but suddenly he was possessed by an undeniable urge to fight Ranma. He knew it didn't make much sense, but he turned anyway. "Ranma Saotome, I challenge you!" Ranma looked up from his conversation with Akane, the puzzled, and more that slightly weary, look on his face changed into a smile.

"Hey Kuno. Where ya' been?"

"At our first meeting you landed a lucky blow on me. It put me in bed for these long weeks, but now I have returned and I, Tatewaki Kuno, challenge you."

"Sure Kuno, but class is about to start and I,"

"Silence fool. Honor is more important than education. And besides, there is something I wish to ascertain from our duel."

Ranma blinked, shrugged and let out a breath. "Fine Kuno," in an instant he was in his ready stance, "but let's make this fast, I don't want to hold buckets today."

Kuno scoffed, "Very well then."

In an instant Kuno was within striking range. The Tokyo samurai started with a down swing aimed at Ranma's shoulder, he was trying to put his arms out of the fight as quickly as possible. The kendoist gasped as the boy in front of him disappeared in a blur. He changed his strike in mid-swing to horizontal slash, trying to follow his opponent. Ranma jumped back just out of reach of the blade. But he had no time to relax as Kuno lunged again, this time starting with a thrust to the sternum. This time Ranma's evasion set him several feet from his foe.

"Man Kuno, you're a lot better."

"Feh, last time you only caught me off guard." Before the last word was off his lips Kuno was on the offensive again. This time he started with a feint to the left followed by a strike with the pommel of the sword aimed at Ranma's ribs. Ranma decided it was, perhaps, not the wisest move to keep dodging as he used to when fighting Kuno. Before the swordsman could strike again Ranma was inside his range. Kuno moved his sword wielding hand across his chest and tilted his wrist out, a move that would have forced Ranma back, if it had connected. Instead it went just over Ranma's head as he ducked. From a crouching position he thrust at Kuno's chin with his palm. Normally that would be enough to stun him, but this time it only made him fall back a few steps. He had loosened the muscles in his neck at the moment of impact, and then as Ranma's hand slipped off his jaw he tensed them again to reduce damage.

Ranma stood and blinked. Even the last time he had fought Kuno in his original time he hadn't been this good. Normally he would make rookie mistakes, or simply fight as if Ranma couldn't touch him, and Ranma would exploit that to make the fight short. But this time was different. It was as if Kuno was an entirely different person, he had started off on the offensive, but had been sure to be able to move back to avoid the worst of any of Ranma's attacks.

Now Ranma was getting concerned, there was no way Kuno should be this good, he must have changed something. But the only interaction with Kuno was knocking him into the tree. Ranma chuckled internally at the thought that he had knocked some sense in the teen. But his internal laughter was quenched as he was on the defensive once again.

Kuno was getting irritated. He had had some trouble with Akane, as he didn't really want to hurt her, but there had been no one who had faced him when he was going all out and been victorious, much less been able to mockingly dodge all his strikes. It seemed like his normal attacks were not fast enough to hit the boy, and even this frantic chain of strikes was producing no results. It looked like he was going to have to step it up a notch. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, pausing a few steps away from Ranma. The pigtailed martial artist simple held his ready position, waiting.

Kuno let out his breath in a shout, "Twin Fang!"

That was almost enough to make Ranma pause. Kuno, as far as he knew didn't know any special or Ki attacks, but it didn't seem like he was bluffing. Then a powerful thrust brought Ranma back to reality. The boken missed his head by a few millimeters, taking off a few loose hairs. Ranma saw his opportunity and instantly moved his hands up to catch the wooden sword and use it to throw Kuno. But after his left hand caught the blade he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively Ranma's right arm shot up to deflect the fist flying at him. Kuno's arm ended up held out by Ranma's arm, and his boken was in his left hand.

"Well," Ranma said in a strained voice, "that's a new trick. What else ya' got?"

"Why is it? Why so you speak as if you have had a match before?"

"Uh, well, um,"

"Fool! Don't let your guard down!" That came from Akane on the sidelines.

Ranma pulled back slightly and shifted his weight. Kuno used the area he made to move forward and gain enough leverage to force Ranma to the ground. Ranma smirked; his foot came up in a powerful upward kick, knocking Kuno off his feet and back. He landed with a thud.

Ranma turned to where Akane should be, but found her gone. Her voice called out from the direction of the school building, "Hurry up Ranma or your going to be late!"

Ranma turned and headed for the building. It would be a long day indeed.

-A Few Hundred Miles South of Tokyo-

A figure dressed in yellow and green strode determinedly through the rain. The inhabitances of the village were normally friendly enough to visitors, and would have invited this one in out of the rain, but something stopped them. Perhaps it was the strange gloom, visible even in the pouring rain, that followed closely behind him, or maybe it was his strange muttering, something about killing an individual named Ranma. Regardless they let him pass without so much as a nod or wave in his direction.

He would have passed through the town without any interaction if not for the boar. It came out of the woods at the end of town and was rampaging down Main Street. Despite the commotion the traveler seemed not to be aware of the incoming danger, and kept moving forward staring intently at the ground in front of him.

Still, only the bravest in the village dared to raise their voices to warn him.

"Look out!"  
"Get out of the way!"  
"Behind you!"

The gloomy wayfarer first looked toward the crowd huddled in the large buildings that lined the street, then after what, to the observers, seemed like an eternity glanced back towards the beast bearing down on him. It was clear he wouldn't be able to move in time, mothers covered children's eyes and looked away themselves, as did the squeamish. There was a crunch of shattering bone a moan of sheer agony that quickly was swallowed up quickly by the sound of rain. Only after they heard the gasp of the others did the majority of the crowd stop averting their eyes. The sight was unbelievable.

In the center of the street stood the boy, no older than seventeen, who, except for turning to face the beast, had not moved. In front of him was the giant boar, lying too still in the road. The animals head was stuck to the ground, impaled by a red umbrella. The boy withdrew his weapon and opened it to let the rain wash the gore from its top. After a few moments he turned to the crowd.

"Where is Furinkan high school?" He asked in a strangely blank voice Again the residents of the village were hesitant to approach the boy, so he came to them.

"I asked you a question. Where is Furinkan high?"

"I… Isn't that in Tokyo?" one of the villagers asked with a quivering voice.

"Fine then. Where is Tokyo?"

The villagers exchanged confused looks. Was this guy serious? A growl from him brought them back to the present

"It's about three hundred miles north of here, just follow the road and you'll get there."

With that he turned and started walking down the road until he was out of sight. Only then did the citizens draw an easy breath. They stared at the spectacle before them. In all their stories it had taken many men to kill such a beast, and even with modern weapons a hunt was far from safe. There were stories of Boar with skulls so thick and tough that they deflected bullets and kept charging. A few of the more religiously inclined uttered silent prayers for the safety of this Ranma person.

Ranma had his head hung as he walked from school. He was used to rigorous training, but that was too much. The teacher he had first period was irritated beyond belief that almost all his class had been late. Once it got out that they were watching Ranma fight, and that had resulted in their tardiness the teacher had decided to make the boy and example. As a result he had been holding buckets in the hall through all his classes until lunch, after which he was sent out to beat erasers. Now that would not normally been so bad, but he had come to rely on his naps in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th periods. Being sleep deprived had made the punishments that much worse.

On the positive side Akane was trying to make him feel better, so she must not be mad at him any more. He would really have to try this 'apologies' thing more often. And he hadn't seen even one storm cloud all day, so it looked like it would be a good walk home. Then again Nerima was famous for turning the sunniest of times to an impromptu down pour without warning. Now seemed like one of those times.

"Ranma Saotome!"

"Ranma turned to face the boy he had beaten that morning, fully expecting to have to dodge a strike as soon as he did. However this time the teen simply stood a few paces away from Ranma.

"Yeah? What is it Kuno?"

"I, I wanted to thank you for our previous match."

Ranma was sure his blinking was audible. "Come again?"

"I did not discern all the answers I was seeking during the struggle, however you have given me a place to start and a direction to search in. For that you have my thanks."

Too shocked to think Ranma reacted on auto-pilot. "Sure Kuno, no problem."

"I look forward to many future matches." Kuno bowed slightly, turned and left.

Ranma turned to Akane, "Pinch me would ya'."

The first of Ranma's fiancées didn't hesitate in granting that wish, Ranma stared at the slightly red skin on his arm. "Huh, guess I'm not dreaming."

"Yeah, that was a little weird." Akane stared at the older teen that was quickly vanishing into the distance. "Oh yeah." She said striking her palm with her fist, "Kasumi wanted me to drop something off at Tofu's house, and she wanted you to come with me."

Ranma almost sighed; it had been a long enough day already. All he wanted to do was get home and relax. Of course if he said that Akane would think he was going so he wouldn't have to be with her. And he still had so much else to do.

First and foremost he wanted to do some training; after all he would need to be considerably better this time. Then there was the matter of Kuno, and Ryoga. The lost boy should have shown up long since, and Ranma was counting on him for back up during the big fight. Plus he still had to find someone to train Akane… Ranma's near sigh turned into a smile. Maybe this trip to see Tofu would be worth it after all.

A few moments of running along the rail brought Ranma to the front door of Dr. Tofu's clinic. The two story building was also where the good doctor lived. His bed room and other private areas were on the second floor along with some rooms for patients to stay in, while his kitchen, bathroom and general medical office was downstairs. Akane came up a few seconds later, catching her breath.

"Jeez Ranma, you didn't have to leave me behind. Why are you in such a hurry anyway?"

Ranma wisely avoided the first comment that came to mind, as anything with 'Akane' and 'slow' in the same sentence was bound to bring a visit from the mallet. Instead he chose a slightly better answer.

"Well, I figure since Tofu is a martial arts master he could be the one to train you. After all I told you I would find someone."

For an instant Akane's expression was unreadable, and Ranma crouched, ready for a dose of pain. So he was completely unprepared for her reply.

"Really? You think he would?"

"Uh, sure."

"That didn't sound very convincing." Akane said as her battle aura started to grow.

"Oh, no I'm sure he'll train you, I was just surprised you didn't smack me for mentioning it, last time I brought it up, you were, well…" Ranma realized the wise warrior didn't prod explosives with fire.

"Yeah well, I, I'm sorry."

"You're what?"

"I said I was sorry OK? Now just forget about it. Humph!"

Ranma stood and stared as Akane walked into the building. That was… impossible. Did Akane just? Ah well, best not to question it. Ranma followed the girl into the clinic.

Inside Akane was already talking to Tofu who, while pleased to get the book back, seemed somewhat disappointed. Ranma chuckled to himself; he was probably hoping Akanes sister would return the book. The doctor looked up as Ranma entered the room.

"Oh, hello. You must be Ranma. I've heard quite a bit about you. Me name is Tofu Ono. It is a pleasure to meet you." Ranma put his hand behind his head, things like this always made him nervous.

"Hello, I heard about you too. It's nice to meet you too doctor."

After the initial pleasantries Akane and Tofu talked about recent events and how her family, especially Kasumi, was doing. After about half an hour Akane stood up to leave.

"We better get home, dinner will be ready soon."

"Well I'll see you two later then. It was nice meeting you Ranma."

"You too doc." The three of them walked to the door, Akane kept walking but Ranma stopped beside Tofu. "By the way. Could I ask you a favor?"

"What is it Ranma?"  
"Well, my life can get a bit, um, hazardous, and I figure that might put Akane in some danger since, well, you know." Tofu nodded politely. "So I was wondering, since you are about the only Martial Artist I can ask, would you mind training?"

Tofu had a look of surprise when Ranma looked up at him again. "I wouldn't mind, but why don't you do it Ranma? From what I've heard you are quite the fighter yourself."

"I… I just can't. I got a thing about fighting girls. Even tomboys."

"I heard that!" Ranma mentally prepared for what ever he might get later that night.

"Well, I guess I couldn't say no to Akane's fiancée, after all I've been looking after her and her family for years."

"Thanks Doc. I owe ya' one."  
By this time Akane had come back to the entrance to the clinic. "Really? When can we start?"

"Well, if you're that eager to begin," Tofu paused for a moment. "I don't have any clients tomorrow after you get out of school; I guess we could start then."

Akane bright smile dimmed a bit, "Actually I have something to do tomorrow, and could we make it Saturday?"

"Sure that works for me."

As Ranma and Akane made their way home Ranma decide to start a conversation. It took most of his mental powers, but he found what he thought was a safe topic; after all it was something Akane brought up.

"Say, what's after school tomorrow?"

Akane turned to face him, "Hmm?"

"You said you couldn't start training tomorrow because you had something to do after school. What are you doing?

"Oh, some friends and I are going to the skating rink. By the way Ranma, I, I mean we were wondering if you wanted to come along." Akane said in an overly casual voice.

Ranma noticed and was about to say something about it, but he wisely chose not to. Instead he simply said "Sure."

It wasn't till later that night he realized that this was when he first met that perverted skater. What was his name? Makano? Mikado? Miduo? Ah well, it wasn't important. After all no P-Chan meant no Charlotte, and no Charlotte meant no Azusa, and no Azusa meant no match, and no kiss. Ranma shivered slightly at the memory, but assured himself it wouldn't happen again. There was nothing to worry about

The only thing he worried about was worried about was Ryoga. He should have shown up long ago. But Ranma realized that it was probably nothing. After all Ryoga was more than tough enough to take care of himself.

With his troubles dealt with Ranma slept well that night. While he dreamed two familiar figures drew closer to the, thus far, quiet town of Nerima.


	9. At Friends, or at enimies III

A Second Chance Ch. 9

At Friends or At Enemies III

Hey Everyone! Sorry about the long, long update delay. I've been really busy lately and I… Ok, Ok I admit it, I'm just lazy. Please forgive me. Oh, by the way, I'm starting college tomorrow, so hopefully my writing will improve. And as always; enjoy.

Ranma sighed as he continued walking forward, every few feet shooting a glance behind him to the right or left. What had he ever done to deserve this? He was a pretty good person wasn't he? He didn't pick on the weak or steal or purposely hurt other people. So why did it always end up like this for him? Did someone above get a laugh out of seeing him suffer?

He leaned back against a tree and tried to get some sense of where he was. The forest around him looked vaguely like some of the places he had seen in China, but he had no reason to be there. Normally he would be able to find his way but the mist that wove its way around the pines and firs of the forest at some point merged above the forest to make a thick cover of fog. This not only made navigating difficult, but it also made it cold. On top of all that he was also fairly sure that he was late for school.

Ranma couldn't even remember why he wasn't in school. Pressing his hands against his eyes hard enough to make a light show in his head, Ranma tried to remember what had happened that day.

"Let's see," he said out loud, the dead silence of the area was a bit unnerving, even for a fearless (Well, almost) martial artist. "I woke up, did some training, and took a quick bath. Then I got breakfast form Kasumi, just avoided letting Nabiki sell tickets to watch me spar, and went to school with Akane, and… Argh! How did I get here?"

Ranma realized his arms and let his chin come to rest against his chest and let his hands down. For a few moments he stared at the thick cover of needles that cushioned his resting place. Then his eyes grew huge. The absolute still of the woods was shattered as Ranma's head shot up. "No! Can it be? Have I… Did I get Ryoga's curse? Crap, how am I going to find the skating rink today?"

Ranma's monologue was cut short as a rustling noise to his right caught his attention. The pigtailed martial artist spun around just in tome to see a boar charging at him. In the blink of an eye Ranma was hanging from the low branches of the tree he had been resting on. The boar came to a skidding stop a few feet behind him and turned around. As it stared up at Ranma it seemed to have an almost human face, Ranma chuckled for a second and wondered if this was how Ryoga saw himself. The fact that he had saved the lost boy this time escaped his notice. Although Ranma was well out of reach the pig stayed at the base of the tree and grunted angrily every so often.

Now Ranma was generally pretty calm, unless Akane, or water, or cats, or insults to his honor or manliness, or, okay so maybe Ranma wasn't the calm type. But he normally would have just waited for the pig to leave him alone and moved on. However today he was in a less than patient mood. So instead of waiting he opted to drop down on the animal and knock it out.

Ranma used the momentum from his foot impacting the pig's skull to flip over and land at the base of a large pine. "Sorry, but if I'm late meeting Akane after school today I'll never hear the end of it." Ranma muttered over his shoulder as he started walking again.

Ranma swung his head around to face forward and stopped dead in his tracks. He was pretty sure if he could breathe his scream would be heard by the dead. Unfortunately his shaking and whimpering did little to divert the attention of the tiger that he was now face to face with. The animal pounced and Ranma finally managed to get out sound, barely a whisper. "I'm sorry, Aka…"

A dull thud had been the only result of the first few erasers that had impacted with Ranma's skull but the fifth one produced the desired result. Ranma's head sprang up and he looked around for a moment, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

"It's nice that you finally decided to join us, Mr. Saotome, now if you wouldn't mind," The teacher, in lieu of finishing his sentence held out two buckets.

Ranma glanced behind him to make sure Akane was there and all in one piece. After filling the buckets with water he stood in the hall, silently repeating his mantra for the moment. 'It was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream.' After he managed to calm down he realized something. Since he had managed to meet Akane again he hadn't had a single nightmare. The dreams in which he was powerless to wave her were gone, and Ranma wasn't the type to have bad dreams normally. Why was it starting now?

And what was up with that dream anyway? The outdoors didn't scare Ranma, so unless it was all leading up to him running into that c, ca, furry animal what was it? Ranma pondered it deeply for about ten seconds before visibly shrugging and moving on. For the next hour he applied his entire mind to a more daunting problem. Akane had asked him to come with some friends of hers to go skating, and Ranma had the feeling that the main reason for him coming was that the girls they were going with there wanted to meet him. But even so it was something to do with Akane. That made it kind of like a date.

Now Ranma wasn't a master of social matters but he was fairly sure that it was usually the guy that asked the girl out on a date. That meant that he would eventually have to ask her out. Privately that idea made Ranma giddy; and terrified. He knew he wasn't the best at, well at pretty much anything but martial arts so asking her was, for Ranma a daunting obstacle.

And it seemed like fate would provide no help to him. White day had passed a bit before he arrived and was still far off; in fact there weren't any holidays that he could use as an excuse coming up. He wasn't even really sure of Akane's birthday, though he knew it was some time in June which, again, was too far away. It looked like he would have to bite the bullet and just ask her. That brought him to his second problem; his pockets were consciously free of yen. He simply hadn't had any time to make money since he got here, and even if he did it would probably end up in Nabiki's purse.

Maybe he could (shudder) ask Nabiki for a loan. He knew he would suffer for it, but he would probably suffer anyway. And as frightening as the idea of being indebted to Nabiki was it had its perks. After all he didn't want to wait a couple weeks to raise enough money for a good date, and the only other ways of getting a quick buck were either illegal or dishonorable.

Then there was the problem of Ryoga, who still hadn't showed up. Was it possible that since he didn't get cursed Ryoga wasn't going to follow Ranma anymore? And if so how was he going to find a good training partner? Kuno seemed much saner this time around, and he used the same basic style as Gicho. On the other hand, even as sane as he was Kuno just wasn't as good as Ryoga. His rich upbringing had deprived him of the inhuman durability and strength that Ryoga had. Maybe he could ask Tofu, or spar with Akane a bit when she got better.

Ranma shook his head; all this thinking was giving him a headache. This was probably the worst part of going back in time. Ranma was used to head on confrontation, meeting an opponent and fighting and winning. All this planning was something he was unused to. That added to the constant underlying knowledge that he had to fight a man who was still a lot better than him was really wearing him down.

What if… No Ranma stopped himself. He wasn't the kind of person who worried all the time. When the time came he would be good enough. He smirked slightly, after all Ranma Saotome don't lose.

With that the bell for dismissal rang and students started pouring out of their classes. Ranma dumped out the buckets and put them away while there were still a number of students in the classroom. The last thing he needed was a lecture from his teacher. He made his way down the crowded halls to the exit and the school gate where he waited for Akane.

Scanning the crowd that surged towards the gate Ranma was soon able to pick out Akane with a few of her friends. She was talking and laughing about something and Ranma's impatient expression softened a little. He would never admit it, but that smile was one of the only two things that kept him from leaving in the past. During the times he and Akane were fighting, when everything seemed to be against him it was the prospect of never seeing that smile again, coupled with the fact that Ranma Saotome didn't run, that had kept him in Nerima.

Akane led her friends up to Ranma with a slight blush. Ranma, these are my friends, (Generic Japanese schoolgirl #1, 2, and 3). And this is Ranma."

Ranma smiled and bowed slightly. "Hi, it's nice to meetcha'" And with that the group headed off to the skating rink.

Apparently Akane had warned them not to bring up their engagement, or else they were just cautious about bringing up the subject because for the entire trip it wasn't mentioned once. Instead the girls mostly gossiped about other kids at school.

Ranma wondered if this was the way normal teens acted, talking about who dumped who and who was failing instead of how to tell if a root was edible and how to properly land after jumping off a train. Ranma had to admit it felt, good. It was nice to be able to listen to people talking about normal, everyday stuff. He would never trade his life for a normal one, but every once in a while it was alright to just be Ranma Saotome, instead of the Pigtailed Martial Artist.

Once they arrived Ranma scanned the large rink in the center as well as the booths surrounding it. He didn't see either of the cracked skaters around, and found himself letting out a breath he hadn't noticed holding. P-Chan might not be in the equation, but if there were martial artists around Ranma invariably found himself fighting them. Not that he thought that was a bad thing, but he just really didn't feel like fighting right now.

After renting a locker and swapping out of his shoes Ranma headed towards the ice. The moment before he reached it he stopped. 'Damn!'

"What's wrong Ranma?" Sayuri (Ranma had at least managed to pick up her name on the trip here) asked.

"Uh, I…"

"Hmm? You what, Ranma?" Akane asked as she walked up next to him.

If Ranma's face was calm it was because years of training had made him an expert at hiding his thoughts. 'Crap! I still don't know how to skate. What am I going to do? I would look pathetic if I just sat around, but I would look like an idiot if I went out there now."

"Hello, Ranma? What's the hold up?" one of Akane's friends asked.

It seemed Ranma had no choice. Today the enemy was the ice. He cautiously stepped out and almost immediately fell. The ground seemed to be flying by under him. Every time he got balanced he started falling in another direction.

Fortunately Ranma managed to reach the opposite side of the rink and held on to the short barrier that separated ice from cement. For a few seconds Ranma just stood there trying to catch his breath, he had faced more foes than he could count, but this ice was by far the worst.

A slight grating sound alerted Ranma that someone was coming up behind him. He turned around to find Akane and one of her friends, he thought her name was Shiori, were looking concerned at him. "Is everything alright Ranma?"

"Huh, Oh yeah, sure. Everything fine Akane."

"Then why don't you come out and skate with us. It's no fun hanging around the edge."

"Oh, um well I actually, I uh… hurt my, leg! Yeah that's it. I was training and I landed wrong this morning, and my ankle got tweaked."

"Huh, but you seemed alright on the way over here." said Shiori.

"I was uh, just ignoring it. After all what kind of a martial artist would I be if I let something like that stop me."

"But what if you really hurt your leg? Maybe you should go sit down" While her friend tried to get him to relax Ranma noticed something strange. Instead of looking concerned Akane seemed to be getting irritated at him. Maybe it would be best to give her some space. Yeah, that was sure to work.

"Alright, I think I'll go order something to eat. Do you want anything Akane?"

"No, just go sit down Ranma."

'Crap' now there was no question, Akane was mad. But why, Ranma wondered as he faked a limp along the side of the rink. After all he hadn't said anything about her; in fact he hadn't done anything to bother her. "Argh, why does this have to be so tough?" he muttered under his breath.

Suddenly something struck him. He considered this ice to be his enemy. And now he was using an excuse to get away from it. Well, maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. So what if he couldn't skate? He was just delaying the encounter. He was… He was running. Well not any more! Ranma Saotome didn't lose and he didn't run away! With that he launched him self from the edge with all his might.

Later people would describe it as one of the most amazing events they had ever witnessed. Who would have believed that a human could skate up a wall? And who could survive a fall from that high, much less land on his feet.

A few minutes later, after their orders had arrived at the table Ranma was once again listening to stories from high school. He was amazed by just how much teenage girls could eat, much less while talking. Then again the only girls he had spent a lot of time around were the Tendo sisters, Shampoo and Ukyo, none of which, he suspected could be considered normal.

However other than spending a bit more than he had planned on snacks everything was going well. Almost too well. Ranma sensed danger even before the only of Akane's friends he didn't know the name got up. "Hey Akane, why don't we go skate a bit more."

"Hmm? Oh, sure Motoko (That was it!). Hey Ranma lets go."

Sigh "Sure I'll" Before Ranma could finish his sentence Shiori intervened.

"Actually, since you hurt your leg why don't you sit this one out."

"Oh, well I think I'm fine now, so."

"She's right Ranma, you shouldn't go if you're still hurt, you could make it worse." This time it was Sayuri who interrupted him.

"It's alright Ranma I'll be back in a little bit." Akane said as she headed off to the rink. Ranma immediately felt the kind of like he did before some one jumped out and tried to kill him. When he turned back to the table he knew why.

The two remaining girls were leaning in towards Ranma with a look that sent shivers down his spine.

"So, Ranma," Sayuri began, in a voice that was too casual to be trusted, "You and Akane seem to be getting along pretty well."

"Huh? Uh, well yeah, I guess so."

"That's good; after all it just wouldn't do for her and her fiancée to be fighting all the time."

"Um, where did you, Nervous chuckle , you hear about that?"

Now Shiori leaned in. "So tell us Ranma, how do you feel about Akane?"

"What!?"

"Well? Do you love her, or do you hate her?"

"What kind of a question is"

"Forget that" Sayuri broke in, "Tell us what have you to been doing?"

"Um, I don't know what you mean."  
"Come on, she's your fiancée, not to mention the good mood she's been in lately, and today especially. You've probable done already this and that with her."

"Hold on! This and that?" What,"

"Wow! You've already gone that far?"

"I don't even know what I'm being accused of!"

"Oh come on, don't expect us to buy the innocent and naive act." Sayuri said folding her arms across her chest.

"Yeah! Oh, oh, I know! Tell us what kissing feels like."

"WHAT?"

"Well, it's not like we have boyfriends, so come on, tell us."

"Yeah."

"Um, is it getting hot in here? Whew, I think I'll go get some water."

"Hey wait! Come back!"

Ranma moved much quicker than likely for an injured person to the vending machines. Now he had a real problem. It was obvious that he couldn't go back to the table, but he couldn't go out on the rink either, and it wasn't like he could just head home without Akane. 'I wonder how long I can spend in the bathroom before it becomes weird. Crap, maybe I should just tell Akane my foot hurts and head home.'

Ranma turned to the skating rink and scanned the crowd. It didn't take him long to pick Akane out. When Akane was doing something she was happy, and when she was happy she seemed to glow. Ranma shook his head; he would die of embarrassment if anyone knew he thought about things like that. But as long as no one knew…

"Geez, look at him." Sayuri said, crouching behind a potted fern.

"What's wrong sempi? I thought we wanted Ranma to like Akane."

"We did, but did you hear him back there? He may look good but it's obvious he got shortchanged in the brains department. A guy like that is no good for Akane. We have to do something."

"But, they were engaged since before they were born, is it really alright for us to do anything about it?"

"We're Akane's friends; we have to do what is in her best interests. But for now let's get out of here."

"But aren't we going to do something?"

"Yeah, but first I gotta' figure out what. And I told my mom I would be home to help with dinner, so I have to head home. Come on, let's go get Motoko."

"Aren't we going to take Akane too?"

"Nah, we can start planning our strategy on the way home."

"Say, why don't we just talk to Akane?" Shiori asked as they walked over to the rink.

After saying good bye to her friends Akane turned to Ranma. The look on her face boded ill for the pigtailed martial artist.

"Hey Ranma, Your leg isn't really hurt, is it?"

"Huh? Ah, what do you mean? It's hurt. Look."

"Oh come on. On the way over here you were fine, and a little fall like that wouldn't hurt you."

"No I, um I… Yeah, yeah alright. My leg is fine, it's just that,"

"I understand, it's fine Ranma. After all why would you want to go skating with me?"

"I just never… wait. What? It's not that, I just don't."

"I'll see you at home Ranma." Akane said over her shoulder as she walked toward the locker that held her back pack.

"Hey wait. It's not what you think, the truth is I," Ranma called out as he got up and pursued her.

"Forget it. I already said it's alright" Akane said in a tone that gave Ranma a moment for pause. But of course Ranma wasn't one to give up. Akane came to a quick stop as Ranma seemed to materialize in front of her. She never could believe just how fast he was.

"Akane, the truth is I _mumble, mumble, mumble._"

"You what?"

"I, Sigh I can't skate. I never learned how."

"…" Akane just stared at him. For a second he felt sure he was about to get sent into orbit. Then her face broke into a smile and she started laughing.

"Hey! I don't see anything funny here." Ranma felt a hit to his only weak spot, his warrior's pride, more commonly known as ego. He turned to go but before he took a step Akane's hand landed on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, heh, I'm sorry. It's just that, well it's kind of absurd that a someone who can jump buildings in one leap and flip around like you can can't even ice skate."

"Yeah, well it ain't like it's my fault. Pops just never taught me." Ranma said as he wondered what 'absurd' meant.

"Heh, well then I guess there's no time like the present." Akane said after she managed to quench the last of here giggles. "If you want I can show you how."

Ranma turned and once again nearly froze. He wondered how it was possible for a tomboy like Akane to look so cute. Mentally he sighed; a better question would be why it took him so long to see it. And as little as he enjoyed the prospect of humiliating himself by trying to skate he desperately wanted to spend some time alone with Akane.

"Sure, fine. If you really want to I guess I could try to learn." Akane smiled again and turned to grab her skates. Ranma wondered if it was possible to skate when your feet weren't touching the floor.

Akane sighed exasperatedly and Ranma wondered if it was possible to skate when you couldn't feel your feet. They had been at it for almost an hour and a half and all Ranma could manage was to stand and move forward. Turning and stopping were, as far as Ranma was concerned, impossible and therefore useless. Still, as much as he disliked this sport, which he was now fairly certain was invented by sadists from some god forsaken pit, the prospect of holding (or hanging on to, as it may be) Akane's hand was more than worth the suffering.

Akane, on the other hand was just getting irritated. "Why can't you get it Ranma? It's not that hard."

"Maybe for you, but I'm pretty sure all forms of cold water have it in for me. Hey by the way, your friends said you were in a better mood than usual lately."  
Akane blushed slightly and turned her head away from Ranma. "Yeah, and so what? Is there a problem with me being happy?"

"No, I was just wondering why."

Akane froze. She couldn't tell Ranma the truth; his ego didn't need any more inflation. She had to figure out and excuse. For a moment she considered just belting Ranma and leaving, but that idea was discarded. "Uh, well it's that… it's that I… that I get to start training with Dr. Tofu tomorrow. I can hardly wait. Ahe he he."

"Oh, so that's why." For some reason Ranma's voice at that moment hurt. And Akane suddenly felt an absolute need to tell Ranma the truth.

"Well, that's not the only reason. Actually I was really happy that I got to," But Akane's words were interrupted as she found herself flying through the air. Any sounds she could have made were interrupted by a thunderous cracking sound and the screams of the other skaters. When the world around her stopped moving she found herself in Ranma's arms as he stood on the short wall around the ice rink.

"RANMA SAOTOME, PREPARE TO DIE!!" At first Akane thought the words were coming form the PA system of the building, but after moment she spotted a green and yellow shape standing on one of the floating chunks of ice that were the remains of the rink. It seemed to be a boy about Ranma's age with short hair covering most of a bandana. But there was something odd about him; it seemed like all the air around him was distorted, almost like the thermals rising off the road in the middle of summer. And immediately around him she was almost certain there was a glow. Akane felt the floor under her skates as Ranma put her down.

"Akane, I want you to go home."

"What!? But this guy is serious. He could"

"AKANE!" Ranma cut her off and turned to face her, the look one his face frightened her more much more than the person who had just appeared. It was the first time she had ever seen a look so sad. But what was worse was something that was almost invisible, something anyone else would have missed. Ranma was afraid. "I need you to go back home. Stay there and wait for me." Normally Akane would have argued, but Ranma's tone and his expression caught her off guard. Akane simply nodded and headed for the door.

Ranma heaved a sigh of relief as Akane made her way to the exit and out the door. Then he turned his attention to the matter at hand, and for a moment he shivered. Something had gone wrong, very, very wrong. There was no way Ryoga could be like this; hell at his best Ranma wasn't even that intimidating. Ryoga seemed to be radiating power, almost as if it was overflowing from his body. The ki that poured off him seemed polluted, and his aura was black with flecks of sickly green floating here and there. The overall image was, even to Ranma, more than a bit unnerving.

"Well Ranma, are you ready? For what you've done I'll show you seven hells!"

"Ryoga what's wrong? Why are you" Ranma didn't get to finish as he had to launch himself back to avoid being made into a piece of graphic modern art. The wall he had been on half an instant earlier was now powder and Ryoga's fist didn't even slow down as it impacted the floor. Suddenly there was an explosion of concrete shared and Ranma found himself blocking and dodging desperately. "What? Who taught you the Breaking Point Ryoga?"

"Oh, so you know about my new technique? What a shame, let's try this one instead." And with that Ryoga launched himself forward. Ranma managed to move out of his range, but the arrogant expression he normally wore while fighting Ryoga was gone. It seemed that all the time he had been absent Ryoga had spent training; he was much faster than Ranma remembered him being at this stage. That and the fact that he already had one of his signature moves bothered Ranma. It wasn't like Ryoga to try speed training on his own, and the only ones who knew breaking point were the amazons. Had Cologne rescued him and sent him to bring back Shampoo's groom? No, there was no way the amazons would allow a man to do that for them.

Ranma didn't have much time for contemplation as Ryoga was headed for him again. A quick blur to his right was all the warning Ranma had of Ryoga's attack. He threw his arms up and jumped back. Pain ripped through his arm. He landed and saw four thin slices in his arm that were starting to turn the sleeve around them crimson. Ranma chuckled slightly to himself.

"Well, it looks like I'll have to get serious." Ryoga just responded with an arrogant grin.

Somewhere across town Akane was running franticly towards the Tendo dojo.


	10. Vows and Vendettas

A Second Chance Ch. 10

Vows and Vendettas

Hey everyone! Sorry about the long update wait. I've been far busier than I anticipated, but hopefully I will get to do more regular writing soon. Thanks for the support by the way, and to all the people who put me on their up date list; Thanks a million, your support is always appreciated. Please read, respond, and enjoy.

Ranma dodged to the right, barley avoiding a punch aimed at his face, unfortunately that put him against the wall and it was all he could do to block the elbow strike that Ryoga flowed into next. He almost wished he hadn't, pain ripped through him as the strike impacted one of the parallel gashes in his arm.

Ranma wondered, between ducking a punch and sidestepping an axe kick, how Ryoga had managed to cut him. It didn't seem like he had any kind of weapon, and the only technique he knew that would produce damage like that was the Cat Fist, which he couldn't imaging Ryoga being able to use, and even if he did have it how was he still in control while using it? No, it had to be something else.

This raised another problem for Ranma; how had Ryoga learned whatever it was he was using? It was unlikely that it was any form of hidden weapons, as his shirt was short sleeved. But even if his clothing matched the style Ranma doubted he could have learned such a difficult technique in only a few weeks. Besides Ryoga had lost most of the speed he had gained from fighting Ranma day in and day out.

A worse problem was the speed Ryoga _had_ gained. He wasn't as fast as he was at his peak, but he was faster than he should have been. That, added to his already inhuman strength and toughness made him considerably better than Ranma could remember. Add in the fact that, although Ranma had been training hard, he wasn't as improved as Ryoga was, and the entire scenario boded ill for Ranma.

Weaving through combos of punches, kicks, and occasional head-butt Ranma realized something else. He was getting tired. The training he had been doing was helping him, and he wouldn't have lasted this long without it, but it wasn't enough. He had his sparring matches with Kuno, but only two of them, if you could call the first encounter a match. And his daily fights with his father, but that was barely a challenge. Maybe he should ask Tofu if he could spar with him some time. A knee that Ranma was barely able to avoid brought an end to his musing.

Ranma was about to block yet another punch when something caught his eye, and drew his attention from the attack. Diving desperately out of the way Ranma managed to avoid all but a slight graze by the strike, but even that amount of contact was enough for a good sized swath of his shirt to be removed, along with a thin slice of skin.

Regardless of the burning that now engulfed both arms Ranma smirked. He had seen it! Right before the punch connected he was able to make out a slight green glowing discoloration in front of Ryoga's fist. That meant one of two things, either Ryoga was holding a piece of kryptonite, or he was manipulating Ki.

Ranmas face quickly turned to a grimace. If Ryoga was using ki to fight him he was worse off than he thought. After all Ryoga had only a slight ability to use ki up until he learned the Shi-Shi Hokuden. If he gained so much ability this soon it was clear that something Ranma had done made it so. That in turn meant that whatever put him in this particularly homicidal state of mind was also, most probably, Ranmas fault.

Obviously something he encountered in Jusenkyo or on the trip to Japan had affected him. Ranma wasn't sure what it was or how it happened, but ultimately it meant that this psychotic tirade was, partially, his fault. And that meant it wasn't right for him to beat up Ryoga, though admittedly that was fairly far from what was actually happening. That meant that Ranma had to find a way to stop him without hurting him. A quick glance around and Ranma saw the perfect tool.

Ranma jumped over Ryoga's kick and used his still ascending leg for a spring board. He flipped over his foe and landed but a few feet away from the edge of the pool.

"Hey pork chop! Follow me if you can!" Ranma was pretty sure Ryoga hadn't received his curse, but bacon flavored insults towards the melancholy martial artist were sort of a habit. And given Ryoga's mood it was pretty effective.

Ranma jumped aside as Ryogas fist blurred by where his head had been. The force of the blow left Ryoga overextended and in the instant before he could draw back Ranma struck. He spun and landed a kick right across Ryogas back. The strike, added to his being off balance, sent Ryoga into the pool, which now consisted of large icebergs floating in nearly freezing water.

Ranma hopped back from the edge and grinned cockily. Even if Ryoga didn't have a curse the dip should be enough to cool him off. The grin lost its bravado as Ryogas hand clamped down on the cement around the pool hard enough to leave an indent, which soon cracked and shattered. The martial artist lost his grin altogether when his foe pulled himself out of the water with a look that was, if anything, angrier than it had been. Ranma was surprised, briefly, that Ryoga's teeth weren't cracking from the force he seemed to be putting into grinding them together. For a moment he didn't even look human, suddenly Ranma's train of thought was cut off as Ryoga launched himself forward.

Ranma narrowly managed to get out of the way as a flying kick shot by him and went on to destroy several chairs and a table in the cafeteria area. The dust from the crash hadn't even finished spreading when Ryoga leapt again, this time almost reaching the ceiling before descending in a steep arc towards Ranma. He leapt back as the human wrecking ball demolished the concrete floor where he had been standing. Ranma caught his balance after landing just in time to jump again, this time straight up, to avoid another lunge. Ryoga flew by and destroyed a support pylon in the wall between the rink and the street outside. Ranma frowned. As long as Ryoga kept lunging at his there was little he could do to counter him without getting pulverized himself.

People walking by looked at the pile of rubble, and then through the large hole that had produced said rubble. A few stared in amazement, most hurried by to get on with what ever task they were busy with, and only one unlucky soul even tried to help Ryoga get up. The glare he received was enough to send him on his way even if it wasn't followed by throw that ended with him half way down the block flat on his back.

Ranma couldn't help but gape. He would never go so far as to call Ryoga honorable, his actions as P-Chan, among other things, disqualified him from that, but the Ryoga he knew would never even imagine attacking an unarmed, untrained, civilian. Ranma's grimace slowly turned into a determined frown. He had created this Ryoga; it was his responsibility to fix him. If Ryoga was out cold he might have a chance to get him somewhere away from other people before he could do any serious damage to anyone. Then he could figure out what to do with him.

Ranmas frown let up until there was no expression on his face as he started circulating ki through his body. He clenched his fist tightly and silently made an appeal to the powers that be that no one would see what he was about to do.

Akane could feel sweat dripping down her face as she closed in on the dojo, she wasn't used to traveling this far this fast. Her breaths were coming quickly as she rounded a corner and nearly ran over a group of kids kneeling down to play in the dirt. She didn't even turn to yell an apology as she rounded another corner. Only three blocks left to the dojo.

Akane knew Ranma wanted her to just wait there for him to return like some kind of hero, but that boy he was fighting was strong, too strong for all Ranma's bravado. So strong she didn't think even Ranma could beat him. She would get her dad and Mr. Saotome to go there and back Ranma up. And if he had already beaten the other boy, Ryo-something she thought his mane was, then he would probably try to gloat about how no one could beat him. Then she would cream him and, loudly, ask why she was worried about a jerk like him. Two blocks left.

Wait a second, was she really worried about him? It wasn't like anyone would be able to beat Ranma in so short a time as she had been gone. Not for the first time on her run she berated herself for not staying and fighting with Ranma. But the look he had given her, and the way he had sounded when he told her to go compelled her to move before she could tell her feet not to. She hadn't known Ranma for very long, but in that short time she was sure she had never seen him scared. There was something about that look that she found unbearable. It made him look just like a child, and when he looked like that she just wanted to hold him and… Akane's thought process was disrupted by a fierce blush. What was she thinking? One block

Sure, Ranma was attractive. Hell, he was practically perfect appearance wise. But that wasn't any reason for her to think about such things. Ok, maybe he did have the occasional nice streak, but it wasn't like she _liked_ him or anything. After all their parents had just set them up, they hadn't chosen to be engaged. Still when she thought about him smiling at her she couldn't help but... Another far fiercer blush covered her face, why couldn't she get her mind off this. She had a mission to accomplish, yeah, just focus on getting help for Ranma. The gate to the dojo was within reach. She shoved it open and was about to shout for her father when her voice caught in her throat.

Standing just inside the gate was a strangely dressed girl. Her cloths showed a great deal of wear but were obviously high quality, and fit her ample body just a bit _too_ well in Akane's opinion. But what caught her attention most was the girls long purple hair.

The girl had already turned to face the gate when Akane arrived, but the original look of joy that was on her face was soon replaced with a wary, if somewhat hostile stare. In a flick so fast she almost missed it her eyes looked Akane over. Her eyes gained a bit of arrogance when she met Akanes again.

"Where I find Airen?" the now obviously foreign girl demanded in broken Japanese.

Akane could only blink in response. She had no idea who the girl was looking for. 'Airen' didn't sound like a name to her and what limited Chinese she knew didn't help her understand either. "I, I'm sorry, but I don't think 'Airen' lives here. You probably have the wrong address. Normally I would be willing to help you, but I'm in kind of a hurry now, so…" Akanes words and motions as she tried to move past the girl were stopped by an immense mace blocking her path.

"Sweaty girl no play stupid. Shampoo knows Ranma live here. If you try to hide airen then you are Shampoos enemy." The last sentence was spoken in a voice so cold Akane could barely hole back a shiver.

Before this 'Shampoo' could make another move Akane was away from her and in her preferred battle stance. Silently she chided her self for her carelessness. If some psycho was determined to kill Ranma today why wouldn't he have a partner? Then one could follow him and the other could wait for him at his home. The frown on Akane's face deepened. Why would someone be so determined to get Ranma? What could he have done?

Akane pushed those thoughts down. Right now she had to concentrate on the problem at hand. As she managed to clear her mind she realized something that sent a chill down her spine. The girls' weapon was a huge mace, easily weighing 80 or 90 pounds, and yet she swung it down and stopped it seemingly without effort. Whoever this Shampoo was she was a beast. Akanes unease was quickly replaced when a smug smile spread across Shampoos face. She thought she was stronger than Akane! And she thought Akane believed it too!! There was no way Akane would lose to an arrogant girl like her.

Akane started smiling too, and Shampoo didn't seem to like that. She moved to Akanes right so fast the movement was almost unnoticed. Akane's initial urge was to move back, but instead she jumped toward her enemy, moving just inside a strike by her mace. No sooner had Akane moved into striking range than Shampoo released her weapon. It sailed a good fifteen feet before lodging in the dojo wall. With her now free hands Shampoo started a flowing chain of strikes, starting with a palm strike aimed at Akane's head. Akane dodged by dropping to a low squat and used her curled legs to launch her into the air as a sweeping kick spun by where she had been. Akane landed back a few feet just in time to avoid a high kick that Shampoo spun around to deliver, and then back again as she blocked a powerful punch that would have liquefied her internal organs had it impacted.

Akane growled and tried to resume her stance and get on the offensive. However as she moved her foot back it impacted something solid. Shampoo had already driven her back to the side wall of the dojo. The foreign girls' mouth slowly formed a smile. "You stand between Shampoo and Airen, you die," she said slowly as she pulled the mace from the wall and raised it to a striking position in one fluid motion.

Akane glanced desperately around for some escape. There was no way she could leap up to the dojo wall like Ranma, if she tried to run the girl would probably just strike her from behind, and she was fairly sure she couldn't block that immense weapon. No, that's wrong. She **can** block it and she **will** block it. A fight is no time to lose confidence. Akane would block the strike and then she would put the enemy down with a blow to the kidneys. At the very least that would make the girl retreat for now and then she could get help for Ranma.

For all that build up the girl didn't actually bring her weapon down upon Akane. Instead she brought up a foot that met the dark haired girls chin. Akane felt her head snap back and impact the dojo wall. In the instant after the impact the other girl's palm smacking into her chin and driving her head into the wall again. Her knees buckled under her and her back hit the wall. It was all she could do to stay conscious as starbursts erupted in her eyes and pain sank into her brain. Akane was certain that her head had split open, but despite the pain she kept her eyes open. For some reason it was almost impossible. She felt more tired than she had ever been in her life. Sleep would feel great right now, the pain in her head would be gone and tomorrow she could wake up and deal with this 'Shampoo' girl. For some reason the thought of Shampoo made her furious, and nervous, and something else that she couldn't put her finger on at the moment, but that wasn't important. She would much rather watch the little tendrils of dark close in from the corners of her vision. In the midst of the area they had taken over she happened to catch a glimpse of her enemy.

Shampoo seemed to leave an imprint on the air where she had just been. To Akane it looked like there were several copies of the girl each one moving in the same way, but each a little after the other. She raised her weapon with both hands and… just stood there. Akane thought the whole thing was more than a bit odd, she would have laughed if she could figure out how. First off the girl was leaving herself wide open, Akane had a vague urge to kick the girl, but it wasn't important so she ignored it. Secondly she was just standing there. Akane didn't know why, but it seemed like the girl should be doing something. But by far the oddest thing was the look on the girl's face. She seemed angry and sad and scared and ashamed all at once. Or maybe the feelings were one after the other and each of the shadows of Shampoo had a different expression. Either way it didn't seem to matter much.

Suddenly, though to Akane it seemed to take a few minutes, Shampoo turned and faced something behind her. Faintly Akane heard someone calling her name, after a moment she realized it was her father. She sighed internally; whenever her father called her he had some chore that needed doing, or some dramatic announcement. Normally she would have gotten up to see what he wanted, but she was too tired, and for some reason her legs weren't working quite right.

Suddenly much to her surprise she was lifted in the air. She looked up and saw Mr. Saotome; apparently he had seen fit to take her somewhere. She was glad that she could rest a bit more while they traveled, but she didn't quite appreciate that Mr. Saotome was carrying her, after all she wasn't a little kid anymore. Now maybe if he were Ranma… Akane could feel herself blushing, and something. There was something wriggling around in her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp it. Whatever it was it was insistent, something about Ranma, he was helping someone, or he wanted to fight a boy somewhere or other… Help! That was it he needed help fighting a boy at the skating rink. Almost immediately Akane snapped back to her senses. "Ranma needs help!"

Genma almost dropped the girl he was carrying. He was certain she had at least a concussion and wouldn't be doing much of anything for quite some time. Then she just, just woke up, like nothing had been wrong with her. Then what she said registered. He had to refrain from smirking. "Don't worry. Ranma can take care of himself. Besides right now I have to get you to that Tofu fella'. You took quite a hit to the head and he better look at ya' to make sure… well just to be safe."

"Hit? What are you…" Akanes voice trailed off. Suddenly all that had just happened flooded back into her mind and for a moment she was speechless, but that quickly passed. "No you don't understand! Ranma was fighting a boy who was stronger than anyone I've ever seen. He was a monster! We need to go the skating rink. If we don't go help him he won't be able to win and that boy looked serious, like he would kill Ranma if"

"Quiet," Genma interrupted, he continued in a slow slightly arrogant voice. "You have an injury to the head. If you don't get to the doctor you will probably die. Ranma has been fighting since he was able to walk, he can take care of himself. I'm sure there isn't anyone his age in the world who could beat him in such a short time, or, probably, at all. But if it makes you feel better I'll go find him after I drop you off."

Akane was about to protest when Genma dropped from the roof he was on to the door of the Tofu clinic. He pushed the door open with his foot and wasn't yet inside the clinic when its namesake met him. Tofu grabbed Akane from Genma's hands and was rushing into another room while interrogating Genma as to what happened. The stout martial artist only stayed long enough to say she received multiple hard blows to the back of her head in a fight. Then he was out the door and on the roofs again headed for the rink.

Akane smiled. "Good, now Ranma will be alright," and with that she blacked out.

Ranma had scarcely time to draw a breath when Ryoga lunged again. Ranma leapt to the right, he needed more time to prepare. What he was about to do would have to work and in order for it to succeed Ranma needed time to gather his ki. Ryoga's strike brought down another section of wall and Ranma realized he might not have that time. At the rate they were going this building was going to come down before Ranma ever got the chance to strike.

Ranma's mind raced as another section of wall fell before Ryoga. He knew that he needed ki to stop Ryoga, but it was taking too long to gather enough of it, after all a normal ki blast wouldn't take Ryoga down normally, much less in his current state. Fortunately Ranma had just the thing to stop him. While training Ranma had noticed that it was much easier to use his ki, or at least it was easier than it had been. Practice with this lead to the discovery that not only could he eject ki from his body, but he could also infuse a part of him with more ki than usual. While he couldn't stay this way for long, over exposure to ki made him feel like he was burning from the inside out, when it was active it gave him an immense boost in force. Unfortunately he had only managed to bring about this state a few times and even then only after long stretches of concentration. But if he was going to stop Ryoga this was the way to do it, after all the lost boy probably had more endurance than Ranma and he could certainly take more punishment.

Ranma ducked a flying kick by Ryoga and flipped forward till he was in the center of the room. An idea struck him, and he felt like hitting himself for not realizing it immediately. Ki was powered by emotions, and for Ranma that emotion had always been confidence. So to draw up more ki Ranma just had to act like he was the best. He would have struck a pose and said that for him that wasn't much of a stretch, had not another attack from the human pinball necessitated immediate evasion.

Once Ranma had his feet under him again he turned to face Ryoga, or at least where he had landed last. "Hey bacon bits, come on you can do better than that. I'm falling asleep out here!" The only response was a snarl and another attack.

This time Ranma laughed haughtily as he side stepped the strike. "Feh, you wouldn't be able to beat me in a hundred years. Not that I could blame you, there aren't many who could." Ranma didn't know why he had the urge to talk, but he did know that it was working. Confidence flowed through him and he could feel it staring to build up in his right arm.

Another miss. "Why don't you give up porky? You're just making yourself look bad." Almost enough, just a bit more ki and he would be there.

"Wow, that one was close. A few more feet and I might have felt a breeze!" The burning started, like someone was heating up his bones from the inside. He was nearly there; one more time should do it.

Ryoga's next strike started out moving towards Ranma's right. When Ryoga was on his side he changed direction in a split second and went for a punch to Ranma's abdomen. Ranma sidestepped and said, "You're getting a little bit better, but this is already pretty boring. I think it's time to end this."

If looks could kill Ryoga would have slaughtered half of Tokyo right then. He came straight towards Ranma with his fist cocked back behind his head. Instead of dodging Ranma stood firmly and drew his arm slightly back. Ryoga covered the ground between them in no more that two seconds, but that was enough for Ranma. He stepped forward and under Ryoga's fist and with aloud cry struck at the boy's chest with all his might. The initial impact seemed to have little effect, but Ryoga's body gradually stopped moving forward. Then it started moving back very, very quickly. The first wall he impacted turned to dust. The second sported a wide hole from which steam, dust, and a generous splash of hot water emerged.

Ranma reactively released the ki built up in his arm and hugged it close to his body. He was half sure when he looked down his arm would be decimated. He was half right. His hand was streaked with blood, initially he thought it was from Ryoga but then the pain hit and he had to clench his teeth to keep from yelling out. It felt like he broke all the bones in his hand, though he was pretty sure he hadn't. Apparently even his enhanced hand wasn't meant to withstand the kind of force he had put into that blow. His head whipped up. If it had done that to his fist what happened to Ryoga. He was moving before he knew it.

Ranma landed on the other side of the bath Ryoga was in. the boy was sprawled out against the wall of the bath, in a fairly deep indent. Ranma leaned close to him and felt his pulse. Ryoga was alive, and what was more he wasn't even breathing irregularly. But the tattered remnants of a shirt he wore couldn't cover a huge red mark on his chest that was already starting to darken around the edges. Ranma wasn't sure if he had any broken ribs, but it was a good possibility.

Ranma didn't like the idea of involving other people, but he needed to get a real doctor to look at Ryoga. Ranma figured Tofu would ask some difficult questions, but it was better than taking him to a hospital. And maybe Tofu could do something for his hand. Ranma used his left arm to sling Ryoga across his back and headed off to the Tofu at full speed.

Genma arrived at the skating rink wearing only a slight expression of shock. Akane told him the person Ranma was fighting was a monster, apparently she wasn't exaggerating. He leapt inside and quickly surveyed the damage. There was quite a bit of damage, but from what he could tell it was all to the building. The only blood he found was in the center of the room between the rink, which was also a seasonal pool, and the demolished remnants of the locker room and bath. It was not nearly enough to indicate serious injury.

What bothered Genma was the lack of either fighter. If Ranma had won he would probably stay around to make sure the person was taken care of, or he would have seen him on the way here, as he had stopped by the house on the way back. And if the other person won it seemed likely he would have just killed Ranma on the spot.

"Excuse me, ah, sir?"

Genma turned to face the man who called in through the hole. "Uh, if you're looking for the guys who were fighting here they are gone."

The person stepped back in amazement at the speed with which the man moved near him. "What happened? Where did they go?"

"Uh, I didn't see much, but the guy in the red shirt carried the guy in the brown shirt over that way." The man pointed to the west.

Genma thought for a second. If Ranma had carried the other fighter off it would probably be because he needed help, and since he was carrying the boy towards Tofu's clinic that was where he would probably be. Genma yelled a thank you over his shoulder as he took to the roofs once more.

Ranma dropped into the doorway to Tofu's clinic. He pushed the door open and expected to see the good doctor right in front of him. When he wasn't Ranma shouted for Tofu, Ranma had never been very good with etiquette. The doctor appeared around a corner and took in the martial artist's in one glance.

"Well," Tofu sighed as he took Ryoga from Ranma and put him on a bed in the main ward, "it certainly seems to be a busy day for injuries in Nerima. If you're looking for Akane she's in the room at the top of the stairs."

For a moment Ranma didn't comprehend what the doctor said. Then his eye grew and he started shaking. "You shouldn't worry, she'll be alright." Tofu said, not looking up from treating Ryoga. "She got a pretty good whack on the head, but you know Akane. She already wants to go home." When Tofu did look up Ranma was nowhere in site.

Ranma's bursting into the room caused Akane to quickly turn her head from the window to the door. The resulting pain made her close her eyes and hold her head between both hands.

"Akane, are you all right?" The desperation in Ranma's voice surprised Akane enough to have her look up at him. That brought on another wave of pain and she moved her head back down.

"Muph, yeah, I'm fine Ranma. Thought I'd be better if you didn't barge in here and start yell" before Akane could finish her sentence she found herself wrapped in Ranma's arms. The forwardness of his action caught her by surprise and, not knowing what to do she just sat there.

After a few moments Akane started to blush and pushed Ranma off. Ranma realized what he was doing and blushed slightly himself. But in an instant that expression was replaced with anger. In a low, dangerous voice he murmured "Who did this to you."

If not for the display of affection that preceded it Akane would be terrified by that voice, as it was she was just unnerved. "It, I think she said her name was Shampoo. She sounded Chinese; she said she was looking for Aaron or Airen, something like that. Then she said your name. Do you know her?" the last part was added hesitantly as Ranma looked like a man about to commit murder, among other things.

"Yeah, I met her." Ranma clenched his right hand until blood dripped out of it. "I know her." 'As soon as I fix up this hand of mine….' He added silently.


	11. Vows and Vendettas II

A Second Chance Ch. 11

Vows and Vendettas II

Hey everybody! Sorry about the long up date, but I've been really swamped lately. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and please update. Thanks and enjoy. 

Through the small window in his office Tofu watched two sparrows hop about in one of the trees that lined the street outside. For most of his life Tofu wouldn't even have noticed the birds; all his energies had been spent on studies, first martial arts and then medicine. He had practice several forms from child hood, and had trained on his own from the beginning of medical school. Over the years he had incorporated his knowledge of anatomy into his fighting and had made his own style. It wasn't until he moved to Nerima that he started to notice birds and other such little things. And even then he had only started because She loved them.

Today, however, not even the presence of Kasumi herself would put him in a better mood. It was bad enough that Akane had been brought in. He was used to treating her injures, after all she had always been in one fight of another. But that other boy Ranma brought in was something else entirely. He had half of his ribs fractured and there was damage to several bones in his shoulders and back. Any normal human would be jelly from an impact as sever as this boy had sustained. Yet from what Tofu could tell the boy, he had gathered his mane was Ryoga, was already recovering. In fact it looked like Ryoga would recover and be fine, and do it in time that was nothing short of miraculous. Even that, though, wasn't what was really bothering the doctor. It was the one who had brought Ryoga back.

Tofu sighed for a split second he wondered if the Tai Mae had loved bird. Immediately he removed the thought from his head. That was all in the past, now he had to worry about the group of kids in his hospital. Tofu heaved another sigh as the small birds flittered away. 

Ranma hadn't left Akane's room in the several hours since he got there. When Tofu went up to check on him he had expected to find a good number of bruises and fractures. Instead Ranma had been almost unscathed. The lacerations on his arm were fairly shallow, and he had a few scrapes from flying debris, the only indication that he had been in a serious fight was his right hand. All four of his fingers (The thumb is a prehensile digit, and it wouldn't be affected too much because of its placement) were out of joint, the damage extended all the way up to his wrist with several minor fractures and massive bruising. The only thing he could figure that would cause that much damage would punching concrete as hard as possible over and over, but when he asked all Ranma would say was 'I hit Ryoga with it' and then ask if Akane would be okay and could Tofu do anything to fix his hand faster. When further questioned he got quiet and stared at Akane, occasional muttering about protection and never again. 

Tofu wasn't sure what frightened him more: the damage Ranma had inflicted on Ryoga, the damage he had done to himself, or his strange attitude around Akane. They might be engaged but he had only known her a few weeks, there was no way he should be so obsessed with her. Then again Tofu could identify with Ranma, to an extent. When he was a young Martial Artist he had failed to protect someone close to him. Tofu was old enough to realize that Ranma shouldn't blame himself for something he obviously couldn't have prevented; after all he was fighting an, apparently, nearly invincible enemy on the other side of town at the time. But he knew Ranma would blame himself. After all Tofu had blamed himself when… No, he shook his head fiercely. He had promised himself to never think about that part of his past again. He wondered if thinking about such things twice in one day was some sort of sign.

Ranma watched two sparrows on a tree branch outside the window of the room Akane was currently sleeping in, but only for a moment. Akane stirred slightly and immediately all Ranma's attention was on her. She shifted slightly and settled again into a deep sleep. Soon after he got there she had fallen asleep, he had frantically called Tofu but the doctor told him that Akane was fine and she just needed her rest. 

For the millionth time a cycle of thought started in Ranma's mind. He thought about how he had let Akane down. He couldn't believe that he had let her be injured, he had spent his entire life training as a Martial Artist and he couldn't even defend his fiancée when she needed his help! What was worse he had sent her back to the dojo alone and he had changed the time line so Shampoo would be here. It was completely his fault. Then he would remind himself that he was only trying to protect her by getting her away from Ryoga, who was also messed up because of something he had done. He couldn't possibly know that Shampoo would find him so fast, or the she would be so hell bent on getting him. But he knew that however he excused himself it was, in the end, all his fault; he was the one who had to try and change the past, despite the warnings he had been given. He knew that he could not change what he had done, but maybe he could find a way to fix it. Then he would look down at his fist and cringe. He would start fixing everything after his hand was better. Then he would look up and see Akane and think about how he had let her down. After about five more runs through this cycle Akane stirred again, this time opening her eyes.

"Ranma, where… what… Oh my head." she murmured as she put her hands to her temples.

"Akane..." Once her name was out of his mouth he couldn't think of what else to say. He had, for the first time he could remember, the urge to say sorry. He wanted to apologize and say it would be okay from now on. To make her sure that she would never have to worry again, but all he could do was stand there with his mouth open. 

"I, I'm… Akane I'm really sorry. I should have, I shouldn't have sent you back without… I'm, I'm just sorry."

Akane's expression switched from sleepy to confused. "Why are you sorry? You couldn't have known that that girl would be there. Unless… Ranma were you the one she was looking for?"

Ranma looked at his feet. He was silent for so long Akane was about to ask him again before he answered. "Ya' remember when we talked just after I got here and I told you about Shampoo, well I think that was her." Akane's head was blank for a moment then her mouth dropped open. 

"That was her! She said her name her name was Shampoo, but I didn't remember until now (Writer covering for his mistake). But you never told me she was so strong."

"That because I wasn't expecting her to get here for a little while…" Ranma realized what he was saying. He figured that since he had left China without running into Shampoo as much as he had last time it would take her longer, but he couldn't tell Akane that. Or could he? "Because, she had no idea where I was going. Hahaha." He laughed as nonchalantly as he could. Akane looked at him like he was crazy but decided to let it drop.

During the silence that followed Ranma removed his hand from the back of his head, he had to stop that, and for the first time Akane noticed the cloth binding his hand. "Oh! What happened to your hand Ranma?" 

Ranma looked down at it as if he was seeing it for the first time too. "Oh, I got this from fighting Ryoga, heh; I guess I don't know my own strength."

"Did, did you beat him?" Akane asked the question timidly, almost as if there was another question behind it. Ranma wasn't quite sure what it was so he just answered truthfully, telling her what had happened during the fight, except for the part about using ki. He didn't particularly like keeping secrets from her, but he had already seen what happened when he messed with the past.

Akane sighed internally. If Ranma had done that to his fist she was worried he had killed the boy he was fighting. "Good," she said, "someone who goes nuts like that and puts everyone in danger deservers a good beating. But, Ranma why was he after you anyway?"

She could have sworn Ranma shrunk before he answered. She didn't know why he was so down about it, he should be mad. After all it wasn't his fault some crazy kid had decided to be his enemy after Ranma had missed a duel, and even their bread fights shouldn't have driven his to follow Ranma around. Her only concern was that Ranma seemed to drop out before the story was finished.

Ranma sighed internally. He was glad that Akane was so understanding, the irony in that statement didn't miss Ranma. He wished he could tell her about Jusenkyo, but there was something odd about what had happened there, and until he figured it out he didn't want to involve Akane any more than she was already involved. Still, this was better than last time, he was able to talk with Akane without her thinking it was his fault, plus she didn't seem to like Ryoga, and that was defiantly a good thing in Ranma's mind. He was about to ask her if she felt well enough and wanted him to ask Tofu if she could go home when there was a gentle knocking before the door opened. The doctor in question stuck his head in. 

"Oh, Akane. It's good to see that you're up already." Tofu's warm smile was returned and Ranma told himself he was stupid for feeling jealous. "By the way Ranma could you come with me for a moment? I need to talk to you."

"I'll be right back Akane." Ranma said as he hopped to his feet. He could almost swear she smiled at him the way she smiled at Tofu as he walked out.

Almost as soon as the door to Akane's door was closed Tofu's mood changed drastically. He didn't say anything as he motioned for Ranma to follow him down the stairs, but the room felt considerably cooler than it really was. It was only when they were in Tofu's office with the door closed that the doctor spoke. "Ranma, just exactly what did you do to that boy you brought in." 

For a second Ranma thought the question was odd then his blood ran cold. "Is he going to be alright? I didn't mean to really hurt him, but he was out of control and I didn't have a choice, and I" Tofu cut him off with a motion of his hands.

"He's going to be alright; your friend is built like a rock. That's actually why I ask. Your father was here a minute ago, when I told him you were with Akane he didn't seem to want to bother you, but I asked him a few questions. Now Ranma the only thing I know of that could do that kind of damage to a person, short of a car crash, is ki, but Genma told me he didn't teach you any ki attacks. So I have to ask, what did you do?"

Ranma sat there blinking. He was screwed. He had no way of getting out of this, if he told Tofu the truth he had no idea how it would affect his world, there wasn't a convincing lie that he could think of, and besides he was starting to suspect he wasn't very good at lying. He started sweating and fought the urge to run, "I'm, I'm not sure." Yes! That was it. Play dumb, that was one thing Ranma could do! "I just focused really hard on my right hand and used it to hit Ryoga. I guess I figured out how to use ki on my own. Hehehe." Ranma hoped he didn't look too nervous, and he removed his hand from the back of his head again.

Tofu sighed. He had no doubt now that Ranma had used Ki, but he was just as sure that he was lying about it being an accident. "Ranma, I" before he could continue the door to his office burst open. The young man he was sure would be out for three or four days stood in the opening clutching his ribs.

"Where am… Ranma! You had something to do with this didn't you!" it was less of a question and more of a threat half growled.

Tofu was on his feet and in front of Ryoga before Ranma could open his mouth. Ranma was surprised when the doctor struck the boy in the neck and chest with quick blows. He was even more surprised when the boy fell backwards and Tofu caught him. Ranma knew Tofu was considered a martial arts master, but he had never suspected the doctor was that fast. "How… What did you do to him?" Ranma asked trying to make it seem like his mouth hadn't been gaping.

"Hm? Oh, I just hit a few pressure points, he'll be out for a few hours and this time I'll have something to keep him down. Excuse me for a second Ranma while I go put him back in bed." The doctor hefted Ryoga over one shoulder and carried him out the door. Ranma silently thanked Ryoga for the distraction, though something had seemed odd about what he had said.

But Ranma couldn't allow himself to be distracted; he had to figure out what to tell Tofu. He tried to think up some story, but his mind was already filled with thought about Shampoo, Ryoga, and Akane. Especially Akane. When they got home… NO he had to focus. Ranma took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. Gradually all the thought and worries that had dominated his mind melted away. On his third breath his mind was completely blank. He was about to start making up a story to tell Tofu when he noticed something. It was an odd sensation, a slight tingle in the inside of his skull. The vision of a glass globe with tiny lightning strikes coming from a smaller sphere in the center came to mind for the feeling. The tingle was emanating from somewhere deep inside his brain and pointing to… to what? 

Ranma tilted his head toward the window and the tingle moved directly between his eyes, he looked out at the tree outside and beyond it to the roof tops leading towards the suns final destination on the Nerima skyline. He was about to give up when a movement caught his eye. It was so small and so far away he was almost certain it was just his imagination, but the harder he looked the more sure he was. There was someone on the roof four houses down. The main part of their body was on the opposite slope, so only their eyes and the top of their head was visible, and even that seemed to blend in to the weathered red roof. He focused in and the tingle got stronger until it felt like it lead straight to the head. 

Ranma's mind was still blank as he leapt on to the wall around the neighboring house and then to the roof. From there it only took a moment before he was on the roof where the person had been watching him. He reached down and found the difference in temperature where the person had been laying, but there was no clear indication of where he had gone. Ranma, not being one to give up, cleared his mind once again. He had to find out who was watching him. For a second there was nothing, then the tingle returned this time it was south of Ranma and it seemed to be fading quickly. Again Ranma found himself moving before he thought about it; clearing alleys and narrow side yards in with only the occasional awestruck gasps of people he passed to distract him. He had to focus, the more he focused the more he could sense the person he was trailing, but if he allowed himself to be distracted for even a moment the sensation faded. After running full out for a few moments the tingling grew stronger, and abruptly changed position. Ranma leapt across a narrow road, lined on one side by thin withered trees. Then the tingle stopped.

Ranma sprang off the last roof onto a vacant lot with the wreckage of a house already being consumed by weeds and tall grass. He tried his hardest to find the sensation again, but there was simply nothing. A voice from behind him made Ranma spin and assume a fighting stance.

"I must confess I'm surprised you were able to find me. I guess I shouldn't be, after all you did beat Ryoga without much trouble." The voice, which had only a slight Chinese accent, came from a woman standing on the last post of a long since fallen fence. The light from the now setting sun gave Ranma a good look at her. Her face was free of wrinkles, but it seemed like she should have some, making it difficult to place her age. Dark eyes stared at him that seemed almost the same hue as straight black hair that hung down to the small of her back. Her face was expressionless, but Ranma was sure she would have the kind of smug smile he usually gave his opponents.

Ranma briefly wondered what she considered a lot of trouble. Then he chastised himself for being distracted. This must be the woman that was watching him, now he had to figure out why. As usual Ranma went for the direct approach. "Why were you watching me? What do you want?" 

The woman chuckled and Ranma found his attention drifting away from her face and some of her 'assets' jiggled with the movement. For an instant she seemed vaguely familiar, but Ranma couldn't quite place her. "It wouldn't matter if I told you. I was right to follow Ryoga here, you are one impressive specimen." Ranma couldn't help squirming under her gaze, he briefly wondered if all men had to put up with such predatory looks so often. "I think I'll have some fun with you, but I'm not ready to play with you yet so it would be better if you didn't remember that I was there at all." While she was talking the woman reached behind her and when her hands appeared again she was holding a plastic container with Chinese script on it in one and a comb and bucket in the other.

Ranma barley even saw her move as she leapt from the post. He dashed forward and spun around to face, nothing, she wasn't there. He turned again and threw his arm up to block a splash of water from the bucket in the woman's hand. The feeling of transformation came over him once again and suddenly his opponent was eye to eye with him instead of nearly a head shorter. 

"Hmm, I thought I sensed something odd about you, but I would have never guessed you had a Jusenkyo curse, much less that one." She seemed about to say something else but a high pitched battle cry from behind her cut whatever it was off. The woman turned and immediately the equipment in she was wielding disappeared. Her left arm moved up in a punch that intercepted the giant steel sphere descending on her. Ranma was dumbstruck when, instead of her arm folding like an accordion, the mace and the girl propelling it stopped dead and then quickly reversed direction. 

Ranma still couldn't move as the two women in front of him faced off. He had always thought he was strong, he could even recall times he had shattered boulders with his bare hands. But he had nothing on this woman. The only time he had really come into contact with Shampoos mace (Boni-bari?) was when he kicked it in the Tendo house years ago, and after that he had had a sore foot for weeks. He was drawn back into the present when the mandarin conversation between the women went from coldly hateful to hotly angry. 

Shampoo threw one of her maces at the woman and closed the distance between them using it as cover. It would have been fairly effective against most enemies, but this one simply slapped the projectile out of the way and slid by the attack Shampoo launched with the mace in the other hand. After the Shampoo went by her she turned and delivered a viscous blow to the back of her head. It all happened so fast Ranma almost didn't notice that the older woman and put her foot out and tripped Shampoo as she went by. The combination left the girl lying out on the ground with her arms above her head. The instant she touched the ground Shampoo used her free arm to flip her body over her mace and land crouched on the other side. She brought the weapon up using her arm and used the momentum from it to get up just as the woman launched a palm strike against her. Hand impacted steel and both went over their owner's heads. Shampoo grabbed her weapon with her other hand and brought it down on the woman who caught it on crossed arms and flung it off to the side. Shampoo used the momentum to start a tight spin, adding in a step back to be out of the range of the other woman's hands. She completed the spin and brought the mace around with enough force to blow a hole in hardened steel. The woman simply stepped back and dodged the attack. The mace went by and the woman stepped forward to strike her now open and off balance opponent. Shampoo saw the attack coming and pushed off her mace as she released it, pushing herself over and only just dodging the strike, she ended up on her right foot and right hand. Pushing off with her foot Shampoo kicked up the woman's hand and, twisting her hips to gain momentum, used her other foot to kick at the woman's stomach. It was a desperation attack, and not a very effective one at that, which was why Ranma was all the more surprised when it impacted the woman before she managed to jump back.

Shampoo pushed off with her hands and landed on her feet already in an attack stance about a meter back. When the other woman landed however she simply put her hands on her hips. The smile she wore was completely different from the one she had given Ranma; he could almost swear it was… Pride? That didn't make any sense, she had just been matched by a martial artist half her age, he guessed, if it was him he would be furious. The tone of her voice confirmed what he thought, she was definitely proud. He couldn't follow what was said since he didn't know much more Chinese than his father, but what ever the woman said set Shampoo off. She seemed ready to launch herself at the woman, Ranma briefly tried to remember if he had ever heard her growl before. Probably fortunately for Shampoo she didn't get the chance. The other woman leapt off, only slowing to shout that she would see Ranma later. He shivered; he had done more damage to his world than he thought. 

Ranma was about to see if Shampoo was alright when he felt an impact to his back, he tried not to notice how soft and mushy the collision felt. "Oh, Airen, Shampoo searched all over for you."

Ranma managed to extricate himself from Shampoo's death grip enough to turn around. When she latched on to him again he scolded himself for having to wonder if he regretted turning. "Shampoo, who was that?" Ranma said, struggling to get air without pressing against Shampoo any more, "And why did you two try to kill each other?"

For an instant the girl looked like she up at him with an expression that made him wonder if he would have to defend himself. Then she muttered in a low voice "She traitor to Amazon's. She worst kind of criminal, and if Shampoo ever see her again I kill." The last two words were accompanied by cracks from Ranma's spine as Shampoo hugged him harder. Her face quickly turned to a smile. "That why Shampoo so happy, Ranma know not to interfere with Amazon women's business, Airen already learning Amazon ways." 

Ranma didn't like being treated like a child and was about to say so when a shock of pain from his hand distracted him. The shock brought the events of the past few hours back to him. Instantly he was out of Shampoo's arms and standing in front of her. His face would have been enough to make most people shake with fear. 

"Shampoo," he started with a voice so cold and emotionless that it surprised even him, "Why did you hurt Akane?"

The Amazon stared blankly back up at him, "Shampoo hurt who?" 

"Akane, my fiancée. You remember Akane?" Ranma said sarcastically, "Black hair, bad temper."

"You mean sweaty girl I fight trying to find you? She try to hide Airen from Shampoo, so Shampoo fight."

"You didn't just fight her! You could have killed her! Why would you"

Shampoo cut him off with a cold glance "Obstacles are for killing. She hides Ranma; she is obstacle, she die." The expression on Shampoo's face was almost enough to scare Ranma, and the shift to a warm smile caught him off guard. "Now sweaty girl no more problem, Ranma come home with Shampoo. Then we get great, great grandmother and she and Shampoo deal with traitor." 

Ranma wondered how she could talk about hunting down a woman who was for obviously a martial arts master so calmly. Then he thought about what Shampoo was capable of, then he scolded himself for getting off track. "Shampoo listen to me very carefully." He waited until he was sure he had her full attention then continued, "If you ever, ever hurt Akane again I'll send you back to China as a gift to Mousse. Do you understand?"

For a second Shampoo was frozen, then anger covered her face, but as far as Ranma could tell she wasn't angry at him. "Sweaty girl already trying to take Airen from Shampoo. Shampoo will have to ask Grandma what to do." And with that she leapt on the fence and to the roof of a nearby building and was gone.

Ranma just stood there for a moment, then he let out a long sigh and started moving back to the Tendo dojo. When he saw the shape Akane was in he had sworn to show the person who had hurt her no mercy. But he couldn't bring himself to hurt Shampoo. Even if she was a constant pain she had been one of the few people Ranma could count on in when he needed help, and that was worth at least some gratitude. And of course she was a girl, and Ranma didn't fight girls. He had walked almost a block before he realized that Akane was still at Tofu's. Bystanders, if asked, would say they saw a boy walking along and suddenly vanish. Ranma did more than jump from roof to roof, he was running along the skyline at full speed, the breaks between roofs were no more than a long stride and the roads were crossed with little more effort. 

Ranma's face was calm but his mind was boiling over. He swore silently at his stupidity, how could he leave Akane like that? He wasn't really worried about her safety, apparently Tofu could deal with anything that came up, but the fact that he hadn't even thought twice about leaving her was unbearable. He had seen what happened the last time he left her alone, and then he went and abandoned her again the same day. He realized he was grinding his teeth and forced himself to stop.

By the time Ranma reached Tofu's clinic the sun was setting and he was dripping sweat. He landed at the front door and opened it quietly. The light was on in Tofu's study and before Ranma could say anything he heard the doctors voice, "Ranma, come on in."

Ranma sighed and walked in to the study, "Hey Dr. Tofu. If it's alright I'm going to go see Akane now." 

He turned toward the door but before he left Tofu said, "Soun already came and took her home. She was pretty unhappy when she heard you left."

Ranma didn't turn around and Tofu was still staring at the papers on his desk, but Ranma couldn't help but feel like the doctor was staring him down. "Ranma, I know that you are in an awkward position with you arranged marriage and all, but you really should give Akane's feeling more consideration." Tofu turned around and found Ranma gone. He sighed and sat back down. "Maybe I'm not the one to be giving relationship advice" he said glumly and chuckled to himself.

Ranma headed along the road back toward the Tendo dojo. What Tofu said hurt him more than anything he could remember, mainly because he was right. Ranma sighed now he had to figure out what to say to make it up to Akane. He wasn't looking forward the upcoming encounter, but the sooner he got it over with the sooner she would be happy with him again. Ranma sighed again; it was going to be a long night. 


	12. Changes

A Second Chance Ch. 12

Hey everybody! Once again I apologize for the extremely long time between updates. I just get carried away with other stuff and before I know it I haven't written for a month, and then that month multiplies, and suddenly I've been half a year overdue. So really, I'm sorry. Anyway I hope you like this next chapter and please R&R. Enjoy (Don't own em')

Tofu sighed again. He wasn't really one to sigh, he believed it generally led only to being more down than you already were, but tonight, he decided, was deserving of being down. Then he shivered slightly.

Tofu had always been especially gifted at seeing ki, to the point where he could often tell what was wrong with a patient just by watching the way their ki flowed. In fact he was considered something of an expert in the field of diagnostic medicine because of it, and he prided himself on his wide knowledge of unusual ki anomalies. However twice today he had seen things that he couldn't even begin to explain.

The first problem was with Ryoga. The first thing the doctor noticed about him was the unusually large amount of ki the boy had. Even average martial artists had more than most people, so they seemed to be surrounded by a sphere of ki. An average martial artist had a sphere that extended just outside the reach of their hands and feet. Ryoga's was at least twice that large. But that wasn't what worried Tofu. Well, not much.

People had different color ki. Usually it seemed to match their personality, sometime their fighting style, for a few it was their favorite color. But everyone had only one color, red, yellow, pink, whatever it was it was monotone. Ryoga had two. His normal ki, or at least what Tofu thought was his normal ki, was a dark green, the color Tofu had come to relate with people with a tendency toward depression. But interspersed throughout his ki sphere were blobs of a different color. A red so dark it seemed black. That wasn't supposed to happen. There was no reason for it, that Tofu could think of aside from some sort of infection, but ki didn't get infected. There didn't seem to be any damage yet, but the whole thing gave Tofu an uneasy feeling. But it wasn't nearly as troubling as what he had seen in Ranma.

He had only had a few moments to observe Ranma but what he saw was very disturbing, to the point of fear. Which was odd, since he had no real reason to be afraid. It just seemed like some primal switch had been turned on in the back of his head and fear came through.

Just as different areas of the body do different things different areas of ki in and around the body do different things. There are areas that deal solely with the ki that remains in the body to maintain life, there are areas that generate ki, then there are the areas that deal with ki outside the body. These areas were broken down even further, to specific purposes, most of which Tofu had puzzled out the use for. However there were a few of these ki 'organs' that seemed to have no discernable use, and others that he had never seen working in any living being. These areas usually looked dull and withered compared to the other areas and sometimes they seemed to be gone from the subject all together.

What bothered Tofu was one spot in particular, a small organ near the main ki production center for the body. More often than any other, that part was missing from people, in fact the majority of people were lacking it. Of those who did have it, it was the tiniest most hidden organ, nearly undiscernibly. That was how it was for every person, everyone Tofu had ever met until Ranma walked into his office today.

At first he had thought nothing of it, the area was more pronounced than usual, but then Ranma was a pretty unusual guy. Then Ranma had run off and left his fiancée here, which was quite unbecoming of a martial artist. But what really bothered him was what he had seen a few moments before, when Ranma stopped in his office. The organ was bright, at least as much so as the rest of his ki, and it seemed to be doing something, though Tofu had no idea what. It seemed like it pulsed, or maybe it was more like it was…Breathing, maybe?

And for some reason that slight movement terrified him.

He was reasonably sure it had something to do with ki production, or maybe…Another sigh. He had no idea. Normally the doctor in him would be ecstatic at the possibility of discovering something like this, something new and unheard of. But if his experience at dealing with ki had told him anything it was this: things that far outside normal were trouble, usually of the kind that required his ability as a martial artist.

So now he had two patients with extremely bizarre ailments, though he wasn't even sure the problems were harmful, though he suspected that at least Ryogas was something that was…Infecting him? He had absolutely no idea what to do or how to handle the two patients. He was pretty sure Ranma would be willing to come in and examined, but that seemed unlikely for the Ryoga, at least from what he had seen of the boy. And truthfully he wasn't sure he wanted to study what was wrong with Ranma, thought he felt he ought to.

Tai Mae would know what to, she always had a way of… that was the third time he had thought of her today. An urge surged in Tofu, one that he hadn't felt in a long time. The desire to run, to leave Nerima and set up shop some place new. To throw off everything that held him to Tokyo. He had tried it before. Every time he started thinking about her again he got the urge to leave it all behind, to escape from his past, at least for a while. Until it caught up with him again. But every time he tried he found himself drawn back to Tokyo, and more recently to Nerima. And only recently had he been able to admit to himself that he was kept here by his feelings for another woman. But of course every time he started to think about that he would feel guilty, and then stupid for feeling guilty and then a dozen other emotions he couldn't explain.

Tofu sighed again and decided it was time to turn in for the night, but despite his best efforts he couldn't make it to his feet, his motivation to do anything but run was gone, at that moment he was pretty sure if he did manage to stand he would leave, at least for a week or so, and with the arrival of these two boys that might be a bad idea. So he simply closed his eyes and leaned against his desk. When sleep finally claimed him he had, as he had expected, dreams of the past. Nightmares.

Nightmares. Horrid, violent dreams stormed through Ryogas mind. He killed Ranma, with his fists, with a weapon, with pieces of rubble, anything that he could pick up and swing. Or else Ranma killed him, usually with his bare hands in an inordinately violent manner and always wearing a cocky smirk. Or they would both die, or they would destroy most of Tokyo fighting. Regardless of what happened the dreams were always violent. And not just in subject. One fight would flash to another without finishing, they would seem like they could continue for hours and then ended abruptly with a single strike. And then, just as suddenly, they stopped.

Gasping, Ryoga forced his eyes open. And immediately fell into stunned silence. For the first time in days (was it months? he couldn't remember) the noises were gone. When he had taken the plunge into that spring the water seemed to rush around him, and even after he pulled himself out the sound didn't stop. That wasn't the only change that the spring had brought about. He had black outs, he would feel like his mind was slipping back, like he was watching his body act and gradually everything would go black. When he woke up he was usually a fair distance from where he had been, at least he was as far as he could tell.

That was another thing, his sense of direction was still lousy but he got the feeling that it was better, it seemed to have improved instantly. He felt stronger too, faster. His style of fighting, which he had mostly taught himself, seemed slightly altered. He was more mobile, at least it seemed that way when he practiced.

For the first time Ryoga realized where he was. He had been in a doctor's office before when he had seen Ranma, at the thought of his name the sound of water reappeared, though it seemed quiet and in the background, and from the looks of it he still was. It was only as he was surveying his surroundings that he noticed that there was someone else in the room.

He was in a ready stance in half a heart beat, if a somewhat wobbly one. However before he could say anything he was on the ground holding his side, which felt like some one was pounding on it with a red hot sledge hammer. He forced himself to his feet just in time to see the shadow that he had noticed step into the block of light from a street light coming through the window. Despite the pain he stood up straight. "What are you doing here?" he whispered. He hadn't meant to whisper, but if he inhaled any deeper the pain became unbearable.

The woman in front of him laughed for a moment, "Well, I had to see how you were doing, after all the spring you plunged into has some… side effects. I couldn't have you running off and dieing before you got revenge." She paused and seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Truthfully I came by to tell you to leave Ranma alone. If you go after him sooner or later one of you will die, not that I would mind too much, but this Ranma boy seems very interesting." The look on her face as she said that reminded Ryoga of a boy he had known in grade school, just before he met Ranma. The boy had spent all of his money on action figures only to strap them to firecrackers, or put them under the tires of a car. "But that brings me back to the side effects."

"You mean the black outs? The sound? Is it going to"

"No it isn't going to get better, not for a long time anyway. You see the pool you jumped into is part of a group of enchanted springs. Every one has some legend associated with it about someone or something drowning, and people who fall in are stuck with the bodies of the thing that drowned in that spring. Long ago they were permanently stuck in those bodies. As you can imagine that was quite a problem, so someone decided to do something about, exactly who is lost to history, but most of the clans in the area claim it was their ancestors. Well, regardless of who it did it, there was a seal put on the springs. It isn't possible to remove the curse form the spring, put it is possible to contain the curse, whoever did it figured out a way to contain it through using water. The cursed form actually becomes the true form of the individual, but it can be sealed away with hot water. In effect as long as the person doesn't run across cold water they are fine."

"Then why am I"

"You really need to learn not to interrupt people. As I was saying the curse of the springs has a seal, but the seal had its flaws. For example if you dive into multiple springs the curses tend to blend, not a pretty sight usually. If there are too many curses on you they can even start affecting your original state. The curse you got is a little different. The Spring of drowned Vengeful Man isn't like the other springs. The legend had it that the person who drowned there 17,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest springs, was a man whose family died. For some reason the man blamed his neighbor for this, to the point where he tried to kill him. Whether or not the other man did have a part in the deaths is unknown. Anyway, the neighbor managed to get away from the crazed man and left town, but the man followed him. He chased him for years, until one day they met at Jusenkyo. They fought for a full day and night and in the morning they were both on the edge of exhaustion. The last exchange took place next to the pool I took you to. In the struggle the vengeful man tripped and fell, but managed to catch himself on some outstretch of rock. The other man considered leaving, but he was too noble and decided to help the other. But when he stretched out and grabbed his neighbor the dangling man grabbed his hand and tried to pull them both into the spring. The good man lost his footing and fell with the other man, but I suppose fate was on his side because his pants got caught on a piece of bamboo that had been broken during the fight. He pulled himself up with the last of his strength and watched helplessly and the vengeful man drowned, all the while declaring that he would get revenge."

"That's real interesting and all, but what does it have to do with" Ryoga felt a slight tap on his jaw and the woman seemed to blur, odd, since it was in that order, and the entire lower half of his face went numb.

"That should take care of any more interruptions. So that particular spring was made with a particularly powerful curse, that combined with the fact that it changes your inner-self not your body made it almost impossible to contain, but the ancients tried it anyway. The result is what you are feeling. Instead of sealing the form away warm water just discourages it; I think it hurts it. Cold water emboldens it. But regardless of what you do it is always there, and it is trying to take over. Right now it's fairly weak, it only takes control when you lose focus or, from what I saw earlier, when you get too close to Ranma." Ryoga worked his jaw uselessly, and finally resorted to scowling at the woman.

"But that's not the biggest problem you have. The problem is that it is going to get stronger, bolder. Eventually it will grow strong enough to challenge you for control and then is when you are really screwed. The problem is that the curse that is trying to take you over isn't natural; it isn't what your body is adapted to. And since it is unnatural your body tries to find a way to expel it, the problem is by that time the part of you that makes up your consciousness is already gone. After the curse form is gone there's nothing left of you but a mass of flesh."

"There is some hope though. You see, it is possible that you will beat the curse, that you can over power it and absorb it as part of you. If you succeed you will be more than strong enough to deal with Ranma, and gain a few other pleasant surprises as well. But of the hundreds who I have seen plunge in that spring you would be only the second to succeed." Ryogas scowl turned into a questioning expression. "You would be the second," she said in response, "because I was the first."

The stars above Tokyo were usually almost completely masked by the lights of the city and the layer of pollution that was synonymous with city life. Normally that would have depressed Ranma, as he had always enjoyed watching the stars. In his ever hectic life they were one thing that always stayed the same, something he could count on. Tonight however the lack of this heavenly spectacle went unnoticed as he trudged through the streets toward the Tendo Dojo.

He was preoccupied with three thoughts that cycled through his mind. First was, of course, Akane. He had to find a way to apologize for leaving her at Tofu's. That presented a fairly serious problem to him; although he had gotten better at talking to her he was pretty sure, with the way his day had gone, he would find a way to mess it up. He always heard about guys buying flowers or junk like that to apologize, but that really didn't seem like Akane's style, and even if it was he was far too broke to get her anything half decent. One thing that kept occurring to him was that he could try and explain what had happened, but that plan had its flaws as well. First and foremost was that he really had no idea of what had happened. The tingle in his skull was something completely new to him, before his danger sense was like a shock that traveled through his entire body; this was different, like an arrow pointing to that woman. He figured that both were part of his effect on time, the feeling and the woman. And what was between her and Shampoo (he made a mental note to make some kind of plan for dealing with her, then promptly forgot it). And Ryoga, how did what happened to him fit in? Argh, Ranma decided that he wasn't cut out for thinking and that he should rely on his instincts. Except maybe with Akane… Maybe Kasumi would have a suggestion for what to do, but lately she had been looking at him suspiciously, though he couldn't figure out why.

Ranma finished that thought as he entered the large outer gate of the Tendo Dojo. A quick glance told him that Akane was either asleep of not in her room, and it looked like the rest of the family was sleeping as well. For a moment Ranma thought about going to bed, then started walking around to the dojo itself. "Wasn't like I was gunna' get any sleep anyway," he muttered as he walked around the side of the house. The sigh he heaved after that stopped midway through as he saw a slight movement out of the side of his eye. He was already in a ready stance when he recognized Akane's silhouette sitting beside the koi pond.

He didn't really tell his legs to start moving toward her, but that's what he found them doing. About half way to her he froze. He still didn't know what to do and what if she was mad at him and anyway she probably wanted to be alone and, Ranma shook his head to stop the jangle of thoughts. Before he could turn around though he heard something, something just barley on the edge of audibility, for an instant he wasn't sure what it was. When he did recognize it he was already next to Akane with his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong Akane?"

Akane was stiff for a moment before she realized it was Ranma next to her. Then her head snapped away from him as she wiped her face with a sleeve. She tried her hardest to sound normal when she said "Nothing Ranma, I'm going to bed." Akane shrugged off Ranma's grasp and managed to make it to her feet before he replaced his hand.

"Please, Akane…" his voice stopped her dead. "I, I know kinda' a lot of stuff has gone wrong today, and it's all kinda' my fault, so I understand if you don't want to be around me right now, but, well, seeing yo… ah, seeing girls cry really bothers me, so if you want to, I dunna' know, I guess talk about it, well, um I'll uh…"

Akane turned around slowly, the tears were gone and she had regained her composure, and Ranma lowered his hand from her shoulder. His other hand seemed to have a death grip on the back of his neck. He seemed to be trying to finish his sentence, but however he moved his mouth no sound came out, and though it was hard to tell in the dark his face looked red. For some reason, she thought he was cute when he looked so flustered, though she would never say it out loud.

Ranma found his mouth working soundlessly. He couldn't believe what had just happened, that was the kind of thing he would never say out loud. And even if for some reason he did say it, he was sure Akane would think he was making fun of her and get mad. But the look on her face wasn't angry, at least not any kind of angry he had ever seen before. He was even more amazed when she started to speak with short stops and abrupt starts.

"Do you, promise not to tell anyone, or, or laugh or… anything?" The look on her face was suspicious, but only a little bit and that faded away as he nodded his head. Before she spoke she raised a bent finger to her lips in a small gesture that seemed child like. Now, Ranma had never been particularly attracted to helpless women, and he would never call Akane that, where she could hear anyway, but for some reason the motion and the look in her eyes made her seem so and that made him want to move next to her and… Ranma quickly stopped that particular train of though and hoped the darkness was enough to cover his color turning even redder.

Briefly Akane wondered why Ranma suddenly seemed so tense, and she was pretty sure she could see a blush oh his cheeks. For a second she felt rage building in her, but she quickly decided that Ranma probably wasn't mocking her or trying to trick her. And a little part of her, one that she would never admit to, really did want to tell someone her problems, all her friends at school seemed to think it really helped, in the back of her mind she marked down that she could excuse this action as peer pressure later. And another part, one that she couldn't even admit to herself, wanted Ranma to be that someone. Akane took a deep breath and prepared to speak.

"Before you got here Ranma I, I was the best in Nerima. Really it's true. I could beat every guy at school by my self, and even Kuno was only a little challenging. And then you showed up and I can't even hit you most of the time and Kuno is getting better, which seems odd, and then there was that boy, Ryoga, who sc, sc, scared me," Akane found herself chocking on the words, but she refused to stop, "and that purple haired girl, Shampoo, who almost killed me and I could barely even see her moves. Before I was strong and now I, I'm just (_I am not weak_)…not." With the last word she faced the ground and seemed to shake with a concealed sob.

Ranma was at a loss. For a second he was afraid that getting hit in the head had had some mental effect on Akane, which it did, if in a different way than he had thought, but for some reason it just seemed like Akane, it was certainly something that would bother her. But this was so unlike her. Of course she had been different this time around, but that was because he had acted differently, now her personality seemed to have changed. A light bulb went off in his head, this must be her showing him a different side of her, and that meant that she felt differently about him than she had last time, which meant he must be doing well. Now he just had to think of something to say. This entire thought process took less than a second, but by the time it was done Akane was raising her head again. For a second Ranma thought she was crying, but then he realized her eyes were glinting with something besides tears. There was the Akane he remembered.

"This is all your fault Ranma. All these people were following you, and Kuno…"

"You're right. S'all my fault"

Akane lost all desire to yell at Ranma. Between his expression, one of absolute desolation, and his voice which seemed to boom, though she was sure it wasn't far above a whisper, she couldn't help but want to comfort him, an urge that she quickly tramped down. After all this was what she had said, she wanted him to agree with her right? And yelling at someone always made her feel better. Then why did she feel so lousy?

Ranma couldn't even breathe. She didn't know about his changes, she couldn't, but she was right. He was the cause of all this, well not really, but that was how he felt, all this chaos that infested the Tendo's life. " 'M sorry Akane, I've been dumb and you had ta go through all this because of it… I, if you want I'll fix it or if you want me to leave I'll…" that was when the little breath he had gave out, and in the same instant Akane started talking.

"No, no, I don't… Ranma, it's not that. It's just, I can't stand being weak," Akane froze for a second, as though she were surprised at herself, "I, it… hurts…"

Ranma could barely hear anything after weak. That word struck him and for a moment he thought he was seeing stars, he realized those lights in his eyes were more than that, on one side he saw Akane lying on the ground in a pool of blood, in the other he saw her by his side, alive. In an instant he made up his mind. For Akane's sake he would do anything, even when it went against his nature.

"I'll train you."

At first the words were so quiet Akane wasn't sure she had heard them at all but Ranma repeated them just a bit louder, "I'll train you." After that he mumbled something about not involving Tofu, but it sounded unimportant. His voice picked up again at the end, "I mean, if you'll let me." At first he looked down and scuffed his foot against the ground, then he looked up at her. His eyes looked… hopeful. For a moment she considered being indignant that he thought he was good enough to train her, then the events of the past hours went through her head and she realized he was. Normally that would have made her mad, but that seemed out of place. She didn't realize she was smiling and nodding until Ranma smiled back.

Relief spread out from Ranma's center. He had been sure she would reject his offer and try to smack him for arrogance. Gradually a realization came to him. Akane wasn't leaving, or looking away. Now Ranma wasn't exactly schooled in human interaction, but he suspected there was something else Akane wanted to talk about. Ranma really did want to talk with her longer, so long as it didn't end up with him getting pulverized, but with the relief he felt came weariness, so much that he wasn't sure he could stand much longer without wobbling, so he sat beside the koi pond and was surprised when Akane followed.

Ranma was scrambling for something to say when a thought dawned upon him. When fighting it was unwise to make the first move against an opponent that you didn't know, instead you should wait for them to act. Right now he had no real topic for conversation, and usually when he just started talking he ended up putting his foot in his mouth, and he had no idea what Akane wanted to talk about, so maybe it would be better for him to wait until Akane started talking.

Akane sat down beside Ranma making sure she wasn't too close to him; she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. She had thought he would leave and go to bed after agreeing to train her, after all he had been through today he would be tired, she was pretty worn out herself, but instead he just sat and gazed into the still and silent koi pond, casting occasional nervous glances at her. Suddenly she felt nervous, and wondered when he would leave. It wasn't that she wanted him to go, but she didn't really have anything to talk about. Still after all that had happened today it was sort of reassuring having him there. Like having someone you knew you could lean on when you were weary. Akane clamped down fiercely on that thought, she was a Martial Artist, she didn't need to lean on anyone, though if she ran into that psycho from the ice rink she wouldn't mind having someone to fight beside. That brought a topic of conversation to mind.

"Say, Ranma who was that guy earlier? His name was Ryoga? Right? What did he want with you?"

Ranma sighed internally. Why, why, why did she have to bring him up? Still, unless he did something to take care of Ryoga soon he would probably pop up around her again. And he really wanted to keep talking, even if it was about Ryoga. "The last time I saw him he was almost as good as me, he beat me in one of the S's and almost matched me in another. Since then he got a lot stronger, ta' tell the truth I wasn't too sure I could beat him," Ranma had been looking at Akane, but he shifted his eyes back to the pond. He chuckled slightly before continuing "It was pretty close, especially at the end." Ranma winced as he wiggled the fingers of his right hand.

Akane winced seeing the pain in Ranma's face. Tofu had told her that the injury Ranma had on his hand was severe, but that couldn't be the only cause, clearly something about Ryoga bothered him, a spark of curiosity lit up the back of her head, but she decided to try and take him away from such serious topics for the moment. "Um, what are the S's you were talking about?"

Ranma looked at her and blinked, fortunately Akane though his expression was just the remnants of sorrow instead of amazement. The feeling melted away in an instant anyway, the three S's were one of his dad's teachings, not something many normal, or sane, martial artists would know about. He took a deep breath and explained, "The three S's are a way of rating martial artists, if you can figure out how high your opponents S's are you can usually tell weather you can beat him or not, they go from least to most important. The first is Strength; the stronger you are the more damage you can do in one hit, and normally you can take more of a beatin', since you got muscle padding you. Usually the stronger guy has more endurance too. That's where Ryoga got me beat, he's stronger than an elephant on steroids. The second is Speed; if you are faster than the other guy it doesn't matter who's stronger since he won't be able to hit you, and the easier it is to hit him since you can get around his guard, but speed is the hardest of the three to train, you can speed up, but not to the extent you can improve the other two abilities. I may not be as strong as Ryoga, but he's nowhere near as fast as me, or at least he wasn't." For a second Ranma had seemed like he was bragging, but then a hint of melancholy entered his voice. It burned off when he continued, "The third S is the most important, it is Skill. If you are more skilled than the other guy you are almost guaranteed to win, so long as he isn't too much faster or stronger than you. A really skilled Martial Artist can tell what his opponent is going to do next, and if he can react instantly to any change in the situation. Of the three Skill takes the longest to improve, but it's the one that can be improved the most. Normally if someone has a higher score at two of the three scores they win, unless the S the other guy is better at is Skill, or if the other guy is a _lot_ better at the one. Of course there are ways to beat someone who has better scores, or who is better at an S that is more important, and I guess there are styles that best suit each combination of scores, like if" Ranma broke off at a nearly silent giggle from Akane, and not just because Akane did not giggle. He felt his face going red as he as he muttered "What's so funny?" rather defensively.

Akane stopped herself, she didn't _giggle_. Ever. Still she needed a calming breath before she answered. "It's just, I don't think I've ever heard you so animated about, well about anything

"Well why shouldn't I be 'animated.'" He replied sullenly. Ranma wondered briefly whether Akane had used the word wrong, but the figured his ignorance towards language, stemming mainly from missing most of his education, was the more likely reason the term didn't seem to fit. "Fighting is the one thing I'm good at, what's wrong with me liking to talk about it."

"There's nothing wrong with it, it wasn't criticism Ranma, it was a compliment." Akane answered back hotly.

Ranma snapped him mouth shut and swallowed the biting response he had ready. He didn't want to fight, not tonight, so why not try to make peace. Unfortunately he knew what that meant and he dreaded it. His jaw was so tight he was sure it would creak as he opened it and his tongue almost seemed rusted to the bottom of his mouth. "I'm…Sorry…Akane." He was proud that the words had come out as smooth as they had.

Starting what had to be done was difficult, but continuing was easier as though a little use had loosened up the works of his mouth. "It's just that I know I'm not as smart as most people, and as a kid when we would settle down long enough for me to go to school the other kids made sure I knew I was stupid, so when I hear people laughing at me I tend to, well I kinda' loose my head."

Akane's pleasant feeling of surprise at Ranma apologizing, more surprise than anything, sunk as he continued. By the time he finished she wasn't sure which she was more, angry of saddened. "Don't ever say that again." She said in a tone that held a bit of ice in it. "I'm not like those other bullies; I know you're not dumb." Ranma's eyebrow quirked almost to the top of his head, "Quick; if someone was about to hit you in the face what could you do?"

After a few minutes of possibilities, ranging from harmless to defensive to possibly homicidal, Akane stopped him. "Do you have any idea how few people could come up with that many reactions that would be effective off the top of their head? I'm not sure even I could."

"Well, maybe." Ranma replied evenly, "But that's not smarts, that's just,"

Akane cut him off "But it is" she balked for a second before changing the word she was about to use and continuing, "intelligence, it shows that you know anatomy, physics, properties of matter, so of course that's 'smarts.'" She managed to use his word without any mockery. "It's just that you don't have the same background as other kids, so you're mental prowess is pointed in a different direction."

Ranma was stunned. All he had said was that he was sorry, and not only had Akane complimented him, but she defended him as well. For a second he was certain something was very wrong, but he pushed away that feeling. For some reason it seemed that tonight all the normal rules about what he could and couldn't say were off. Now was a time to press forward, not to sit back. "Thanks Akane, I've, nobodies ever said anything like that about me. It means, well… thanks." He finished lamely, maybe not _all_ the rules were off. But that didn't mean he couldn't press forward in another direction, maybe with the new technique that had proved so effective. "I'm, I'm sorry about today. It was really cool, you inviting me to go along and all. If Ryoga hadn't showed up it woulda' been fun."

"It was, well up until the fight. I, I really enjoyed it, and I…" Akane was silent, a considering look settled upon her face, but just before Ranma said something to alleviate the quite she continued. "I, I… I like talking to you like this, I," Akane sighed and abruptly continued quickly as though to get the words out before she stopped herself, "Normally I feel like I need to show everyone that I'm as good a martial artist as they are, that I'm not any less than they are. And sometimes I tend to think people are insulting me when they aren't and so I get really, well you know," Very fortunately for Ranma he chose not to nod, " and talking to you like this, well it's hard for me to say stuff like this because I, well I… Um, could we… could we, you know, do this again?"

Ranma decided the night was making him accustom to shock, and being enthralled. It only took a moment before he was sure enough of his voice to respond, "Yeah, I, I'd like that," he said with a voice that was no where near as collected as he had thought. They both smiled, and kept facing each other, but neither talked. Gradually Akane's expression became more… Ranma didn't know how to describe it, it was almost sad but not…! He remembered where he had seen that look before. In the few movies he had managed to watch on the road that was the expression the girl always had before her and the guy k… No it couldn't be! After all this was still Akane, she might not be exactly the same as she used to be but she couldn't have changed this much. Could she? Then again…

Ranma's quandary was ended before his brain over heated by one of the most subtle actions he had ever seen. Akane moved forward by an almost imperceptibly degree. So slight was the motion Ranma wasn't sure it hadn't just been his imagination, until she did it again. Her eyes looked large and bright, almost the look of fear, but that was quickly replaced with an unusually, for Akane, calm certainty.

Warning alarms started going on all over in Ranma's head. He couldn't do this, regardless of how much he wanted to because she was, he was, it was, it, it… his last cognizant realization was that his mind could no longer put together a rational thought. So Ranma Saotome did what he did best. He acted

Akane moved forward slowly. She didn't realize what she was doing or why until she moved a second time, then the realization flooded over her. She was sure she must look terrified out of her mind, because that was more or less what she felt. She hadn't ever done anything like this before but in the comics, and from what she had heard from the conversations of the older girls at school that her friends were so fond of listening in on, the girl never moved first. Of course she quashed that thought quickly, women could act as forward as men. But that didn't man that she could. Did it? Still she felt herself moving forward.

At first she wasn't sure Ranma understood what she was doing, but awareness flashed in his eyes and for a moment he seemed at a loss. Then just as quickly he was moving too, putting his hand on hers and slowly getting closer to her. As they inched together she closed her eyes.

Ranma was still moving towards her when he felt her hand, he wasn't certain whether to go around it or not as he would be putting a good deal of his weight on that arm as he leaned closer to her, but he ultimately decided that he wasn't too tired to hold himself up at an angle with just his abdominal muscles. He realized his mind was dwelling on that in order to distract him from the business at hand, and he put himself back on track. It was then that he noticed Akane had closed her eyes, and he decided to do the same.

In the pitch black behind his eyelids another problem occurred to him. He would have difficulty telling exactly where she was, sure he could sense her, but that wouldn't tell him her precise location, and if he was moving too fast he could head butt her instead and that seemed like it would be bad, so he slowed his movement.

Akane Inched forward slowly, wondering how far away Ranma was. She still felt his hand, which was just barely shaking, the thought that she could make Ranma tremble had an affect on her that she wouldn't describe.

Ranma moved forward at half a snails pace, cautiously waiting for first contact to make sure he wasn't moving to fast. He had no idea kissing was so much work, or so nerve-racking, though he had some idea about the latter.

'Ridiculous, there's no way we were that far apart,' Akane thought silently. She was about to increase her pace, but decided instead to see how far apart they were, she opened her eyes and…

Ranma was starting to feel a burn in he abs from the sustained slight movement, they were about to give out before when he had sat down and now they were letting him know their feelings. He had to meet up with her soon, so he decided to see how far apart they still were. He opened his eyes and…

Her eyes were right in front of him, normally the shock of seeing someone that close would have made him jerk back, but input from another sense made him stay. He could feel her lips meet his.

For an instant they kissed and then both realized that they had been holding their breath. Akane simply started breathing through her nose, but Ranma panicked. As a result he tried to inhale while still kissing Akane. The strength of Ranma's lungs was to blame for making Akane start to cough and, because of this, Ranma start looking for a place to hide. But instead of being angry Akane just laughed.

Ranma desperately thought of something else to say, but nothing came to mind. Fortunately he didn't need to. Akane stood up, stretched, and covering a yawn said, "Well it's pretty late, I'm going to bed."

Ranma nodded and said he was going to stay there. Later that night several police reports were filed about an apparently crazed man leaping across the roof's of Nerima and shouting happily.

When Ranma did finally get to bed that night he was asleep before he could do more than yank of his pants and aim at the futon on his way to the floor. But despite his exhaustion his sleep was not deep or still.

Ranma blinked a few times at the brightness of the aseptically white room. It was bare except for the chair he occupied and one other that it took him a moment to realize was occupied as well. "Hello Ranma," the other man said in a too gentle voice.

Ranma considered taking a ready stance, but he quickly realized who the other man was "Hey you're that Shosho guy!"

A hint of ire found its way into the man's voice, but it quickly withered. "My name is Shiraoso, but yes. Now listen Ranma we don't have long to talk and there is something very important I need to tell you."

Sensing the weight behind the man's words Ranma simply nodded. "Good. There was an… unforeseen consequence in sending you back in time. By now you must have noticed that your Ki abilities are much greater than they were before at this point in time." Again Ranma just nodded and again Shiro continued, "That is because when we sent you back there was a great deal of energy directed towards your body, as a result of this an ability that would have remained dormant in you was awakened. Ranma you are now a Ki siphon."

Ranma blinked a few times while considering responses and finally settled with "Huh?"

Shiro took a deep breath launching into an explanation that sounded vaguely like a prognosis. "A long time ago there were people who had many more ki abilities than today. Some of these abilities were so rare that they died out, others were gradually forgotten, and some may just have been myth, however there is another variety of ki ability that used to be more common: special innate powers that people passed down along family lines. One of the more common ones was one of the least noticeable and most feared; the ability to absorb the ki of other people"

Ranma broke in with a slightly eager tone, "You're saying that I can do that now?"

Shiro shook his head with a tinge of sorrow on his face, the appearance of a doctor giving bad news. "No, Ranma. The word can means that an action is willful, you _can_ do something, so long as you desire to. This is different. Your ability is constantly on, there is no way to turn it off, and controlling it is extremely difficult. The main problem is that there is no cut off point, no point at which you stop draining ki from the individuals around you. This is bad for you because it means you run the, in your case slight, risk of 'overloading' your self and burning to a crisp from the inside out. However you have such a huge potential for storing ki that that isn't a big concern. The bigger worry is that you will drain too much ki from the people around you. The," he started to say victim, but quickly changed, "the people you drain will grow weaker as you grow stronger."

What's so bad about weakening the people I'm fighting, it may not be the most honorably way, but it would probably be pretty effective." Ranma asked with a slight nervousness. He was pretty sure of what the man really meant, but until he heard him say it directly he would stay willfully ignorant. It didn't last long.

"I never said it had anything to do with fighting Ranma. It will drain ki away from anyone, you have already absorbed some ki from your fiancée and you body is drawing a small amount from your father right now. Currently the amount of ki you, ingest from other is small, but as it increases so will the side affects to others. Those who spend too much time with you will start to wither and eventually the spark of their life will be extinguished. That was one of the reasons people with this ability disappeared, when they were discovered they were generally killed on sight because they could make others die without doing anything, and they couldn't stop themselves."

Ranma went numb. He had to leave. That was what Shiro was telling him. He had to go somewhere where he would be alone. No more Kasumi, no more Ryoga, no more Soun or Pa or Nabiki. No more Akane. If he hadn't felt so desolate inside he was sure he would have cried, then he realized how odd it was to think about something like that at a time like this. Then he wondered why he couldn't focus, his mind felt like it was jumping around randomly. It made him laugh.

Shiraoso shivered at the sound coming from Ranma. Laughter so completely devoid of feeling it chilled him through. That caused him to continue more quickly than he had planned. "There is hope though Ranma."

At that Ranma stopped making sounds and practically glared at Shiro, "What is it." It wasn't a question so much as a demand.

"Your condition is rare, but there have been other cases in recent times. One in particular that is important." He could see the impatience on Ranma's face and he watched as his muscles tightened as if he was going to rush off to find the man right then. "His name is Jason Feldric. He was one of our agents when that ability manifested in him. Our normal policy would be to keep him in isolation until a solution could be found, but in this case that would mean for life. So a few months after he was locked up I managed to free him. I did so partially because his 'sentence' seemed too cruel for an innocent victim of circumstance and partially because he was too useful to keep locked up. Somehow he worked out a way to gain some type of control over his powers while he was in solitary, but he still had to run before he was made into a subject for experimentation," at Ranma's rather appalled gaze he added, "our organization isn't terribly sympathetic. So anyway he owes me a big favor so I'm sending him to your world to try and help you. You should meet him at school sometime in the next week. Until then I suggest you try not to become too emotional. It seems that strong emotion makes the process of siphoning speed up. And I would suggest you avoid being alone with one person for extended periods. It seems the draw affects people only in a set area, so if you are around a group of people it draws a little ki from everyone, but if you are around only one person it draws a lot of ki from them, and if that draw continues for an extended period it could have serious side effects."

Ranma understood without further explanation. He nodded solemnly, but at the same moment a thought occurred to him. "How did you know about this? How can you be sure? What if"

Shiro stopped him with an upheld hand. "We've been monitoring you, today when you were in the office in a Dr. Tofu there was a spike in ki activity that centered on you, and tonight when you were in the back yard of the Tendo residence there was a constant increase of activity. I recognized that as the same activity that Jason had shown."

"Wait. So that whole thing with Akane was… What are the affects of having the ki drawn from someone?" Ranma took on a look of intensity, as though a great deal depended on the answer. Shiro knew immediately why.

"The only affect is feeling weary, like after working out for an extended period and then staying up too late. Nothing mental of emotional." The intense look faded and Ranma took on the semblance of a smile.

"By the way, when I was in Tofu's office I got this weird feeling, like I could sense another martial artist, and when I looked there was someone, but she was so far away I shouldn't have been able to sense her. It was kinda' weird, does that have something to do with this whole ki siphon thing"

Shiro shrugged, "It very well could. Truthfully we don't know much about your condition, back when it was common people were more interested in getting rid of people afflicted with it than studying them. There may be several other abilities that are associated with it. On the other hand it is possible that the feeling was a coincidence, or maybe the other person tried to do something to you and you felt the ki she as directing toward you. I really don't…" Shiro had been calm and collected, but in an instant that changed, he now looked angry and a little frightened. "Hmm, I thought we had more time. Sorry Ranma you need to go now."

Ranma tried to ask why but by the time he had his mouth open the room was gone and he was laying on his futon in the dark. Looking at the clock he figured, with the numb mind of one awoken from a deep slumber, that only a few hours had passed. Still as he stretched his muscles he realized that he wasn't tired, in fact he felt rather rejuvenated.

He looked over to where his father lay sleeping and shivered slightly. With a quick practiced movement he slid out of the room and on to the roof, from there it was only a short drop, for Ranma anyway, to the ground and a quick walk to the Dojo. He wasn't rushing to get away he told himself, just trying to wake up.

As he started stretching he took on a mask of grim determination. When he had first heard what was wrong with him he had been scared, as hard as he found that to admit, even to himself. But Shiraoso had given him a fighting chance with help from this Jay-san, whomever he was. And Ranma never lost a fight.


End file.
